Missed Connections
by BuggyFiction
Summary: Runaway bride Bella decides to live life to the fullest and in freedom and doesn't care about responsibilities anymore. She decides to do anything and everything her heart desires and stumbles upon a pretty boy who's in for some fun.
1. Chapter 1

The decision to run away on her wedding day had been the best idea she'd ever had. Sure, she made _a lot_ of people unhappy but her best friend Jacob had been right; she had to stop making other people happy and think of herself for once. Becoming a vampire was nice and all, a long lasting life, but what good would that have done if she was in a loveless relationship? Edward was obsessed with her, it hadn't been love.

She happily took the bank card from Jasper with Edward's money on it and ran as far as she could. The first plane out of Seattle took her to Paris - of all places - but she didn't care. Bella was going to have fun and do everything that she hadn't been able to do while she had been with Edward; be a real teenager for one, making the best of her last two remaining teenage years.

She found a hotel near the Champs-Elysées and dumped her suitcase before going back out again to the nearest restaurant and bar. Night had already fallen but the streets were still busy with people and it felt great to be part of the mass. Her high school French got her some French fries with a steak bigger than her hand and a flute of Champagne. Oh yes, celebrating her freedom with a nice glass of bubbly was certainly pleasurable.

She knew she had to feel terrible about it all; Reneé had been really happy and excited for Bella and even Charlie, who took some time to warm up to the idea that his baby girl was going to be married before she was twenty years old, had been happy in his own way. A lot of money had been spent on the wedding - but then again, the Cullens were comfortable enough to deal with the blow - and she had humiliated Edward in front of his family and friends.

Bella was well aware that she could have gotten out sooner. Jacob had been nagging her for months, he had been against her involvement with Edward from the beginning. Jasper had warned her that this wasn't a good idea and even Rosalie forgot to be a bitch towards Bella one day and told her that she wished that Bella wouldn't go through this as it'd ruin her life.

She had polished off three glasses by the time dessert came round and since the bar area looked quite entertaining, she paid for her meal and continued to drink at the bar. It was the best way to spend her first night, well, her second night, of freedom since she couldn't get hammered on the plane.

"There's a great pub down the street with much better alcohol."

Bella looked up from where the voice came from and acknowledged the tall boy standing a few seats away from her. "Your English is good."

"Because I'm American," he snorted as he sat down and ordered his drink. "Best thing about Europe is is that you can drink when you're 18."

"Yep," she replied, popping the 'p' and took another sip of her beverage. He looked kinda hot, at least he looked like a normal human being with normal human complexion. She wasn't really in the mood for talking, really. All she wanted was to get so drunk, she had to roll back to her hotel room to sleep off the alcohol and maybe repeat it again tomorrow. She didn't have to do anything anymore, she could do whatever the hell she wanted. Hell, she could even be so bold as to ask the boy if he wanted to fuck. Yes. She could. Did she dare? Sure, why not? "Wanna hook up?"

The boy almost spat out his drink and looked at her in shock. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Do I look like I'm joking?"

"You look drunk," he pointed out. "I don't do drunk girls."

"I'm not _that_ drunk, I still know what I'm doing. Come on, I'm celebrating my freedom here," she said as she drained her glass. "Are you seriously turning down a willing fuck?"

"Well… I'm not really into that kind of thing right now, but good luck on celebrating your freedom."

"I said hook up. Not date, marry and have babies. Ew. No."

The boy seemed to think for a moment, torn between his feelings and what he needed, really. She could see the hesitation in his eyes, but also that his eyes had gotten a shade darker and that had her interest peaked. She got up from her seat and planted herself next to him. _God he smells so good_ , she thought as she ordered another drink. "No strings. I don't want to do strings. I just want to have some fun and you look like you could use it."

He let out a breath and nodded. "I'm kinda mourning my ex-girlfriend. She was involved in a… uhm… accident."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Bella apologized. Of course, he looked like a kicked puppy, she should have known something was off. "I totally get it."

"It happened a few months ago, though. Her dad brought me here to spend some time with their family and he just left me here and I don't have the funds to go back to the States."

"Poor puppy," she took a sip of her drink. She wasn't really interested in exchanging life stories but what the hell. "Almost two days ago I left my ex-boyfriend in front of the altar because I realized I was being stupid and that he didn't really love me."

"Seems like we both have reasons to get drunk," he replied after a beat, wondering if she could sense that he was something other than a human, but that would be impossible, wouldn't it? Unless she was something special and she looked quite ordinary to him. It would be a fun way to figure it out though, if she knew and if she was something other than a human.

"You've been drinking for months, haven't you?" Bella said with a smirk. "Drowning your sorrows. Thought you didn't have any money?"

He shrugged as he took a sip of his drink. "I guess pretty girls pay for them?"

"Alright, hotshot," Bella laughed. "Your drink is on me."

"I'm Isaac, by the way."

"Bella."

The silence between them wasn't that uncomfortable as they both retreated back to their thoughts while sipping their drinks. Once Bella was finished with hers, she paid what she owed and got off the chair, deliberately bumping into him, feeling his well toned physique underneath his shirt and loved that he didn't even feel cold to the touch. He felt like a real human and then some. Almost like Jacob. "Huh," she said as she gently caressed his arm over his shirt. "You work out, I like it."

"Thanks?" Isaac was surprised. He never had girls come on to him like she was coming on to him right now. But she was filled up with alcohol, surely it had something to do with that, right?

"So, I'll be heading to my hotel room now. Do you want to come?"

When she started to bat her eyelashes at him and licking her lips at the same time, blood started to rush to parts of his body that he hated because they were a clear indicator that he was indeed, interested. "Oh fuck it," he muttered as he downed his drink. "Yes, I want to come."

~o~o~

She could name dozens of people who would disapprove of this and that's why she wanted to do it. She wanted to have sex with this gorgeous boy, have him fuck her to oblivion and then some. Maybe rinse and repeat until they were both well spent. Have breakfast after a good sleep and then do it again. And again. Until they got tired of each other. No strings. It could end any time. She made it clear to him in the elevator to her room and he seemed to like the idea very much.

Once the rules were set, she pulled him down for a kiss to get a taste of him, feeling brave. She knew it was the alcohol but that was the intention to consuming alcohol. Isaac was the first one she kissed like this after Edward and Jake, and boy, Isaac was a damn good kisser - or that could be the alcohol talking too. She really had to shut her brain down. She didn't need it for what she wanted.

When the doors pinged open, she broke off the kiss and walked towards her hotel room, she could already feel that she was wet in anticipation. She was going to have sex. She gave herself a stern talking to that she was not going to back out of this and just let it all happen. That was a good thing, to let it all happen. She fumbled with the room key for a moment and felt victorious when it opened, leading him into the suite.

"Wow, you have money to burn or something?" Isaac let out a breath. Was this girl loaded? Was she just an unhinged rich brat with daddy's credit card? Ah, who cared? He was going to get laid tonight and maybe that would make him feel better. The alcohol only worked for so long.

"Or something," Bella said with a shrug. "Basically severance money from my ex-boyfriend, I can do whatever the fuck I want, whoever the fuck I want."

"That works," he said with a nod and a shrug. "Are you sure you're not too drunk?"

"Would you like me to do a sobriety test, officer?" She asked playfully and started to unbutton her jacket. "Because I can walk in a straight line, you know."

"Yep, I want you to prove it."

"Well, I won't," she said as she discarded her jacket and kicked off her shoes. "Look, I just ran from an overbearing, manipulative, son of a bitch who wanted to marry me and turn me into a stepford wife. I haven't had _any_ freedom for the last two or three years because he and his family controlled most of my life." She pulled off her shirt, revealing the big, noticeable scar on her wrist. "I want to do something for _me_ , live life to the fullest and yes, picking up a random pretty boy from the bar is exactly what I want because it's _my_ choice. It's definitely a plus that you're not French so there's no language barrier here."

 _Poor girl,_ he thought and let out a sigh. "Alright, fine," he stopped her from undressing herself and instead kissed her hard while his fingers ran up and down her arm. "Allow me to give you those warm and fuzzy feelings you're after."

"I just want to feel alive after feeling as cold and dead as he was," she replied as she stared up into his eyes.

"He sounds like a real charmer," he caressed her hair out of her face and guided her backwards toward her to the bed. Once at their destination, he gently pushed her shoulder so she fell back on the bed with her hips dangling over the edge. "You're beautiful," he muttered as he leaned against the bed with his knees and started to undo her jeans. "It would have been a shame to see you with someone who's cold and dead, wasted potential right there."

"I'm skinny," Bella snorted as she nudged him with her knee after he got rid of her jeans. Heat radiated from him and he wasn't even that close to her. "Are you a space heater or something?"

"No," he huffed as he undressed to his boxers and crawled on the bed and followed her as she crawled her way towards the headboard. "That would be impossible, wouldn't it?" The way she was moving was definitely not that of a drunk, but of a girl who didn't know what to do. Of course, a virgin on a freedom rampage and he had to run into her. He started to kiss her neck as his hand roamed over her body, taking his time with this as he had promised her to feel those warm and fuzzy feelings she wanted so badly.

He couldn't help but to use his special power to take away a little of her hurting, he could sense how broken she was on the inside. No matter her bravado, she was a work in progress, in need of fixing. She visibly relaxed under his touch, which would make it easier later on when he was going to fuck her. Oh yes, she may be broken, but he was going to get what she had promised him too. She was definitely not going to be a virgin anymore once he was through with her.

She felt her body tingling, she could even feel it in her toes with the way he touched her. Gently, but also reaffirming that she was alive and really feeling this. Oh, he really didn't need to find out she was a virgin. He'd stop and he'd leave, and she didn't want him to. Her body involuntarily pressed itself into the bed or against his upon his attentions and she already felt as if she was flying.

When Isaac was satisfied enough that she was indeed relaxed, he asked for permission to remove her bra, running a gentle hand over her breasts as he kissed her. He wasn't really taking all the time in the world, his body was demanding a release as well. It would be just as cathartic for him as it would be for her and he didn't want to wait too long. She had known what she was getting herself into; she should feel grateful that it was him with her right now and not some horny Frenchman.

 _What the fuck?_ He scolded himself. Why would he care if it had been a horny Frenchman? It would have been her own fault, wouldn't it? With her promiscuous behaviour and all that.

He didn't even ask for permission to remove her underwear because the kiss was simply too good to break off right now and while she was distracted, he could use his strength to rip it and hide the evidence in the trashcan with one well aimed throw. He had been able to smell her once he had undressed her, but he hadn't realized how wet she was, how good she smelled, causing the blood in his body course even faster through his veins. The wolf in him wanted her so bad, it had been a while since he had to reign him in.

She had missed this connection, this human connection, human touch. Warm touch, and it felt so good. She knew that Isaac didn't have to take his time with her but he did, and she felt as if she was in heaven. She gasped when he put his hand on her _down there_ , and her body involuntarily arched into him when he inserted a finger inside of her. "Oh, fuck," she moaned after the gasp had broken off their kiss.

"Just relax, beautiful," he said calmly. "It'll be okay, l promise."

"I know," she breathed as she managed to look at him with a big smile on her face. "I was just surprised, that's all."

"Liar," he laughed as he used the moment to insert another finger into her and started to open her up a bit for him. "It's okay, you know, I don't mind."

"Mind what?" She asked impishly as she firmly took hold of the sheets beneath her as it felt as if he was trying to put his fist inside of her.

"Okay," he said with a shrug, removing his fingers from her and pulled down his shorts, revealing his erect cock. She didn't have to be honest with him, why would she? They were strangers and both in need of release. He wanted to now, even if she wasn't ready for him. It was her own fault. She invited him, not the other way around.

Isaac repositioned himself on the bed and grabbed one of the pillows to put underneath her ass to elevate her hips a little bit for easier access. He lifted up her legs so they were in a triangle and pushed them to their sides so he could slide himself into her. "Now, are you still sure you want this because I won't stop."

"Yes," she nodded as if she was a bobblehead toy and bit her lip as she looked at him through hooded eyes.

"You're so sexy, you better stick to your rules about what you said… sticking with me until you get tired of me or I get tired of you," he said with a low growl near her ear. "Because I think you're delicious." He started to kiss her neck as he guided himself into her, feeling her body tense as he gently pushed inside of her, already feeling guilty that he had lost his patience for that moment.

Could he do both? Slowly push himself inside of her and take away some of the uncomfortable feeling? He'd never tried that before. He placed one of his hands on her stomach, to make sure she didn't move as he slid into her and felt how her uncomfortable feeling flowed into him, causing her to moan in pleasure. The wolf inside of him roared with impatience. "Don't hold back, beautiful," he whispered in her ear.

She felt overwhelmed and it felt amazing. His body heat continued to radiate towards her, warming her body underneath him. It was that werewolves were rare and that he didn't look Native American, otherwise she'd have sworn he was one of Jake's people. If she felt uncomfortable because he was basically trying to break her in half on his cock, it ebbed away as if it hadn't been there in the first place.

Her hands had somehow ended up on his shoulders and she ended up scratching him when he pushed through some resistance in her body. It was hard to stay relaxed, she knew it was the best thing to do, she had read about it so many times, but to actually experience it was something else. It felt heavenly and agony at the same time.

He gave her little time to get used to him being inside of her once he was fully in and he started to thrust inside of her, causing her mind to shatter in bliss, unable to let out anything coherent and Isaac loved the delirious look on her face. He paused when she spoke. "Are you a werewolf?"

"A what?" He stammered, trying not to lose balance at the sudden question. How did she know?

"Werewolf."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grunted and started to move again, he had been so close and now he had to start all over again. This was frustrating. If she was going to mention it again, he'll just say she was making things up, there was no way that she could know about his condition.

"It's okay, you know," she said with a moan and arched her back into him. "My ex was a vampire."

"Yeah, you're delirious," he said with a snort and gently brushed her lips with his to silence her. She was funny, he had to hand it to her. She was really something interesting and he hoped she'd keep him around for her time in Paris.

"You feel great inside… big… but…" she moaned as he hit a tender spot. "So good…" she breathed and instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, causing him to slide in even deeper, surprising them both.

"Fuck," he grunted and thrust harder, wanting to feel the same feeling again but he could feel that her body was almost there, it had started to contract around him, softly at first, but the longer he was inside of her, the more active her body got. He slipped his hand between them and started to rub her clit, causing her to clamp down on him and come with a loud moan. "That's it…" he whispered as he kept moving, adamant that she'd ride out her orgasm, but knowing that it would probably wouldn't end that way. "Beautiful, so beautiful."

"Oh…" she managed to let out and let her head fall back into the pillow as she was seeing stars. Bella tried to catch her breath but he kept pounding into her and rubbing her, keeping her on that high for what felt like an eternity before he came inside of her.

"Fuck… please tell me you're on the pill," he breathed as he flopped beside her in the bed.

She looked at him, trying to focus on his words and on his face as she tried to steady her breathing and shook her head, biting her lip. "I was dating a vampire. I _was_ set to marry him."

"Vampires don't exist," Isaac huffed as he used the sheet to clean them off. "You're insane."

Sighing, she held up her arm and pointed at her scar. "What do you make of this then?"

"Looks like you got bit by an animal and it didn't properly heal."

"Oh, come on," Bella smacked him on his chest. "Vampires are real. My best friend is a werewolf and you're one too. Different, I guess, but you're one too."

"Nope," he shook his head and got off the bed to dump the sheet in the hamper. "Not to worry though, I'll hop by the pharmacy in the morning to get you a morning after pill. My mistake, my costs."

Bella blinked as she watched him gather his clothes and getting dressed. "Fine, I don't care. Whatever." She crawled underneath the blankets that remained on the bed. "If you want to leave, go ahead and take my room key so you can return in the morning and you'd better bring me breakfast along with that pill."

"Yeah, maybe. Maybe I won't. I'm just trying to be responsible here."

"Yeah and maybe I was wrong in picking you because I don't want to be responsible, Isaac. Life's too short to be responsible."

"So you want the chance of a rugrat running around? Thanks a lot! That's a lot more responsible than I'm interested in dealing with..."

"Dude, it was just this once. Lighten up."

He scowled as he turned to face her. "Haven't your parents ever told you all it takes is one time? Trust that you don't want another one of me walking around."

"Yeah, fine, get that pill in the morning. Like I said, I don't care. If you're so hung up about it, then I'll take it so that you can rest your pretty head and not worry about any puppies running around," she rolled her eyes and settled down in the bed.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours," he said as he took her roomkey from the dresser and held it up. "I'll be taking this."

"I told you to take it," she said before she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "Good night, Isaac."

~o~o~

Isaac made sure that he was first in line the next morning at the local pharmacy to get the morning after pill for that crazy person in the fancy hotel. He'd been stupid not to ask her before hand, not to carry a condom on him. He had vowed never to have children because he was afraid to turn into his father and his father had been one crazy asshole. Sure, his father was all he had left growing up, but Isaac was afraid that he'd grow to resent his child just like him.

And to risk impregnating a random girl he found in a bar? No. Absolutely not. On top of that, she was insane. After getting the pills, he went straight for the hotel, opening the room with the key that she told him to take and found the suite empty. The bed was disturbed, but her suitcase was gone. Her ripped panties were on the bed and a note was beside it.

His eyes grew large as he read through her scrawled handwriting. He let the notecard fall from his fingers as he looked around the room as he debated his next move. "This girl is going to be the death of me…"

 _Thanks for the great night, Isaac. I truly enjoyed myself and had big plans for you until you started to freak out. I decided it was safer for me to leave than to deal with you, but hey, if you want to find me and still give me the pill, go ahead and sniff me out. I'll mark wherever I go. Surely it mustn't be that hard? I'll be heading down south next. xoxo Bella_

A/N: This story was written for my Guest reviewer over at Sanctuaire who requested an Isaac/Bella story. I hope this satisfies your thirst :-) Thanks again for your lovely reviews, I always looked forward to them! xxxx Buggy.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Surprise!**

 **Thank you all for loving the idea of this story. Since this is going to be a thing now, the sequel to Sanctuaire will not be written until I've finished this.**

 **xxx Buggy.**

* * *

He didn't have to go after her, he could have easily forgotten about her and just move on with his life, but if he had to be honest with himself, the thrill of the hunt, the thrill of adventure made him follow her. It was something Isaac had missed. He had been passive for far too long and it was indeed time to start moving on. How long did it take to get over your dead girlfriend anyway? He didn't mourn this long for his own father!

When he explained the situation to Chris Argent's cousin Patrick, he slapped Isaac on the shoulder with a huge and encouraging smile and handed him the keys to his car. Apparently they had been waiting for him to become pro-active and stop wallowing for a long time now and they more than gladly saw him get on with his life.

In all fairness, Isaac had been pathetic, he knew this. He never should have allowed Chris Argent to take him to France and leave his friends behind because Isaac really needed them. He needed his pack, his alpha, even if they didn't want him around. Surely Mrs. McCall wouldn't have mind having Isaac stay over again?

But this whole mystery. This Bella. It had fired up his synapses and all of a sudden he felt like himself again. He just wanted to catch her now and see what would happen. He didn't care whether or not she'd take the pills or not. He was a predator and he was going to catch her.

He wasn't sure where she went though, all she said she was going south. He took the south exit out of Paris and had to laugh when there was indeed a 'mark' along the E5. _Good job pup, can you count to six?_ He wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but a short drive later, he saw the A6 and headed on that.

Isaac knew one thing; the girl was insane. She probably left just after he did - it looked like in her own car and had even had time to make cardboard signs for him. Yes, she ran away from her own wedding but had the relationship be that bad to do this to her or was this who she truly was? Was this just an amplification of her freedom?

This excited him. This was awesome.

After two hours of driving, he decided to take a small break to get some feeling back in his foot and to get a bite to eat, in all the excitement, he hadn't made time for breakfast yet. It was funny how Bella's scent lingered in the small gas station, almost as if she'd stopped there as well.

"Excusez-Moi, are you Isaac?"

Isaac looked at the man behind the till and nodded. "I am."

"I didn't believe that you'd show, but the woman seemed determined."

"Woman? Bella?"

"I didn't ask for a name. She said she'll meet you in France's third largest city at one of the museums because you're a doll and would fit right in. You still have time to find her but if you're late, you'll have to continue looking."

Isaac blinked at the man as he tried to figure out what the hell Bella was up to. "Third largest city? That's Lyon?"

"Correct. You should be on your way. If you wish to put petrol in your car, it's already been paid for."

"Thanks," he said confused. He didn't need to fill up his car just yet, he had left with a full tank and there was barely anything out, but he topped it up anyway before resuming his trip to Lyon. It was probably going to take him another two and a half hours. Isaac was thinking about maybe contacting Scott, tell him what he was up to in case things would happen, but then decided against it. The Argents knew and if something would happen, they'd contact Chris Argent. It felt a bit silly to feel so attached to someone who wasn't even his own father. Was it out of loyalty? Probably.

He still hated him for leaving him without his friends though.

He could call Scott later. He wanted to catch up to Bella and see what crazy idea she had planned for him next.

~0~0~0~

She had spent a couple of hours at the hotel in Lyon after having taken a nap at the hotel for a couple of hours. She knew that Isaac wouldn't be at the hotel in Paris before 9 am so it was safe to nap until around 1 in the afternoon before heading to the museum. Bella loved museums, she loved to learn about the history of a place - it was a shame that she hadn't done so in Paris, she wanted to see more, but the idea to try and tease the boy into following her had been more appealing.

This museum just happened to have a huge doll collection as well and that was a little bit creepy. They reminded her of the Cold Ones. Motionless. Expressionless. Fucking Edward.

There was a coffee shop nearby where she ordered a coffee and something to eat before taking a seat on the steps to the museum where she could see anyone enter or come out. She still had the feeling that her dealings with the Cullens - and the Volturi - were far from over, seeing as the deal was for her to be turned or to be killed because she knew too much. And maybe it had been a stupid idea to come to Europe - France in particular - as it was so close to Italy and Volterra, but on the other hand, wasn't the best way to hide from someone right under their noses?

She was wearing her favourite jeans and a short sleeved top and the sun was warming her skin, she loved it. She loved the feeling of it. She had never liked Forks that much. The humidity was horrible for her hair, but great for her skin. She preferred the heat, even though it was simply too hot to do anything active right now. Bella had to come up with another idea on where to go, where to get the boy to chase her next, that is if he was coming in the first place.

She expected that he would. He had shown a thirst for adventure, like her, he needed to get out of his head and do something insane. Like chasing a girl through France because they had unprotected sex. The dear. He was such a cute pup, it was almost too cruel to let him chase her. Bella opened up the maps option on her phone and looked for the next place she'd go to. Marseille looked wonderful. They could meet on top of the mountain with the cathedral or something. Drive him insane and make him have sex with her again.

The thought alone excited her. The previous night might have been her first, but it had felt so good to just connect and float and she had the feeling that if he hadn't freaked out like that, he'd have shown her so much more pleasure.

Marseille it was. Maybe not have actual sex at the cathedral, but somewhere else, a waterfront hotel perhaps, but yes. Water. Sun. Sunbathing. She needed to go shopping for swimwear. Definitely.

"Gotcha."

Bella looked up to him with a grin. "Well done, you've found me," she said as she got to her feet. "Now what?"

"I think I deserve a reward," Isaac said boldly as he pulled her against him and kissed her hard before letting her go and smirked. "And you owe me dinner."

"What? So you can slip that pill into my drink?"

He shrugged. "I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, why not."

"Ha, no." Bella shook her head. "I'm not taking it." She turned around to grab her bag off the floor and swung it over her shoulder. "Your reward will be dinner with me, yes. At the hotel. Then we both get a good night's sleep and we'll see what we'll do after, deal?"

"I didn't just drive four and a half hours for just that."

"At least one of us slept properly last night," she said with a smirk as she started to walk towards the hotel, swaying her hips as she did. "But fine, if you want to sleep in your car tonight, don't follow me."

"Did you know that legend says that the Virgin Mary saved Lyon from the Plague?" Isaac said as he fell in behind her. "A statue was erected in her name."

"Erected?" She countered playfully. "How erect?"

"Is that all you can think about? Aren't you sore?" He snorted as he put his hands in his pockets as he followed her. If there was one thing he liked about France, it was the architecture and the colours. For some reason, it fascinated him. "When I drove into Lyon, I couldn't help but notice that cathedral on the hill. Looks pretty, want to check that out?"

She stopped and turned around to face him, intrigued by how he wanted to go exploring and with her. "Are you religious, Isaac?"

"Oh, no I'm not but imagine the view from there."

"And you want to go with me?"

"I don't see anyone else. Maybe this could be an opportunity to get to know each other better."

Bella huffed.

"Or not," he said with a nod. "Fine. But can we go up there?"

"You can go on your own," she said as she thought she saw a glimpse of a Volturi robe pop around the corner. This was ridiculous seeing as the sun was out, but it was definitely a robe of some sort. Maybe a sun blocking one. To go on a tour of Lyon sounded great, but it'd also mean more exposure.

"Yeah, but you might leave again and I'd have to follow your breadcrumbs, again." Where did that come from? She seemed to have liked the idea, somewhat, and now she was acting like a cold person all of a sudden. Was it him?

"So?" Oh, she really shouldn't have thought about the Volturi earlier when she was waiting for Isaac to finally show his face. She knew she'd have to go to them eventually, but she wanted to go out on her own terms. See the world a little and experience freedom at least a little before they'd kill her. Or worse; they could turn her and she'd be stuck with them forever. That would suck.

"I'm asking nicely. Come on, we're here. Strange new city to explore. You lead me here."

"Yeah, because you decided to follow me," she pointed out and saw a flash of the robe again. Surely it was in her imagination? She didn't want to die. Maybe there was a way to get out from under her deal with the Volturi, what if she'd promise not to tell anyone? Would that work? Probably not. "I just want to go to the hotel and get some sleep. Maybe get drunk first."

"Okay, but you're missing an opportunity here."

"You can go by yourself, how's that?" She smiled up to him. "I'm staying at a small hotel in a street next to this one. Feel free to come whenever you're ready."

"I want to come with you. I want to come." She seemed spooked for some reason, he realized, and even though he had denied being a werewolf, if she was spooked, she'd be safer with him. Maybe she was just crazy. He needed to get to know her better.

"Okay, good," she let out a breath of relief, grabbed his hand and started to pull him with her towards the hotel. "You can have anything you want for food, drinks or whatever. It's on me."

The street they were walking through was filled with café's, restaurants and bars and there were a lot of people in the streets and he could understand why she preferred that, if someone really was out to get her, she could easily get lost in the crowd. But was someone out to get her? "What are you afraid of? Who?"

"No one," Bella replied as she kept walking, ignoring the people around them. She had felt safe in Paris because no one could have known she was there, but her presence hadn't gone unseen. Surely someone at the wedding could have yapped to the Volturi about her leaving Edward at the altar and could have said that she took the first plane out. It was only a matter of time before they'd find her, wasn't it? Jasper may have helped her get away, but his mate, Alice, had always insisted that Bella would become one of them. She'd actively search for Bella.

Oh great, she didn't have just the Volturi to worry about, she also had to hide from the pixie. She hated to feel this paranoid. Alcohol was going to take care of it, she was sure of it.

"Bella…"

"What? I don't have to tell you anything I don't want to. Part of our arrangement, remember? Same with you. You don't have to tell me anything." She said as she picked up her key from the front desk of the hotel and pulled him with her, too eager to get her face off the street. "But I want to add another rule to that."

"Can I object to the rule?"

"Sure, but then your adventure will end here in Lyon and you can go back to Paris," she said as she climbed the stairs. "Because I think that by now, they'll know I'm not alone."

Paranoid. Check, Isaac thought. He needed to get this girl some help, what if there wasn't a fiancé back in America? Maybe he should call Scott. No, Scott would just ask Stiles to look into it, it was better to call him even though Scott was his alpha. Oh, decisions were hard. "What's the rule?"

"Don't make any decisions." She pulled him into the hotel room and closed the door before jumping in his arms and kissed him. "Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Good, you can stay," she smirked as she gently pat his head as if he was a puppy before ruffling his mahogany hair. "For now." They were so not going to Marseille next.

"Goodie," he snorted as he kissed her and walked them to the bed.

~0~0~0~

"Bitch," he groaned as he woke up and didn't find Bella next to him. Isaac rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and focused on his surroundings, finding breakfast on the bedside table with a note attached to it.

 _Fun, wasn't it? I kinda like this game, don't you? Have some breakfast and come find me. You can pick up your plane ticket at the desk downstairs. Upon arrival at your destination, there will be a car for you waiting. xoxo Bella. ps: I've decided not to wear any underwear today._

"Oh, so small decisions are okay, huh?" Isaac snorted as he took a bite out of the croissant and headed into the shower to freshen up. Afterwards, he wanted to do a quick search on his phone but without knowing her last name - wait, how did she know his? She must have looked in his wallet when she bought the plane ticket! - and knowing where she was from, this would be a very difficult task. Not even one he could bring to Stiles. Although, maybe he could since his father was in law enforcement after all. On top of that, the guy likes puzzles.

 _Sup, Stiles?_

 _Is that really you? Glad you're not like… dead._

 _Are you better?_

 _Am I better? Of course, I am better. I'm fixed. Seriously. It's been months. Where are you?_

 _Still in France but could you do me a favor?_

 _Am I going to like this?_

 _It's a puzzle. Or maybe not so much if you can ask your father for recent missing persons._

… _I'm not going to like this, am I?_

 _Easy. Name is Bella. About 5'6", between 18 and 22 years old, brown hair, green eyes._

 _Send me a postcard if I get the information you need, so I can show Scott you're still alive. He's worried about you._

 _I'm fine._

Isaac shoved his phone in his pocket as he finished the croissant and drank the cold tea before picking up his plane ticket to Caen. He had to scratch himself behind his ear for that. Why go to all the trouble of going to Lyon and then back up to Caen? It didn't make any sense. His flight wasn't for another couple of hours and he didn't have to go to the airport just yet, so instead he went up the hill and visit the church that overlooked Lyon.

Once he was up there, he had to agree with himself that the view was absolutely breathtaking and snapped a few pictures with his phone to share with Bella once he found her again. Isaac couldn't understand why they had to travel alone, there wasn't much chasing to do if he'd only followed where she went. That was a little bit of a letdown, to be honest.

The memories of last night flooded back to him and he couldn't help but smirk widely. He had allowed her to explore his body - mostly because she demanded it - and her touch had been so gentle, so sweet. He dared her to do whatever came up in her head and that had been heaven. Bella proved to be very creative for a virgin.

He couldn't help but get impatient at one point and returned the favor, covering her body in kisses and gentle caress and he hadn't been able to help himself but to get a taste of her, lapping up her fluids before making her come on his tongue and later on his cock.

Isaac had developed another theory, the one where Bella grew up in a cult where it had been prohibited to be touched, to touch and where sex had been out of the question. It would explain the cold, dead boyfriend she left at the altar. It would explain yesterday's weird behaviour.

She hadn't mentioned anything about him being a werewolf or anything about vampires so maybe it had been the alcohol talking when they first met. Vampires were the stuff of legend, weren't they? So were werewolves but Isaac became a believer when Derek turned him. He still loved being a werewolf. It had gotten easier not to shift during the full moon and fully control himself. The heightened senses were something he could live with, even with the added intensity during it.

The first full moon after Allison died, however, he had given into the shift as he was in a forest anyway and had howled at the moon, crying for her and it had felt great to get it out of his system that way. Then the Argents told him that it was better to control himself for the next full moon because there were other hunters in the area who had not adjusted to the 'some werewolves are good' code and they didn't want anything happen to him.

When he arrived at the airport of Lyon, he received a text back from Stiles, confirming that Bella had been given up as missing. Her name was Bella Swan and she lived in Forks, Washington. Theories were that she had been kidnapped or that she had hurt herself, but Mr. Stilinski had told his son that Bella was deemed to be unstable. Stiles then demanded why he was asking after Bella, asking if Isaac had seen her, but he made up an excuse that one of the shamans he had befriended in his time in France had had a vision about her. Not being able to see Stiles' face he wasn't sure if he bought it, but it bought him some time.

He wasn't sure why he had done that if he had to be honest. If Bella was unstable, she needed medical attention, but they said that Lydia was crazy too, and she definitely wasn't. Lydia was Lydia. A banshee. Could Bella be a banshee or was there really more to the story?

Isaac wasn't even sure if he should confront Bella with what he had found out, that they were looking for her, she seemed to enjoy herself and wasn't hurting anyone, so what was the harm in that? He could keep an eye on her, but that meant he'd have to find her again.

The car at the airport of Caen came with another little note from Bella.

I'm at the beach near a restaurant called the factory. Head to Lion-Sur-Mer and use your nose. When you find me, I'll give you a Scooby snack. xoxo Bella.

She knew, there was no doubt about it that she knew that he was a werewolf. How? How could she have known? Yeah, she had mentioned something about her best friend being one but different. So how could she have known? Were there really other kinds of werewolves? He hadn't found evidence of any in the Argents' bestiary. He would have remembered if there were other types of werewolves out there.

He used his phone for navigation; they were in Normandy now and there weren't any big cities nearby and he didn't want to miss his exit or a turn. He wanted to go to her now. Make sure she was alright.

There was a small parking lot at the Rue du Général Gallieni and it was only a short walk to the beach from there. He could smell her. She had only just left her scent on one of the walls, not just any scent though. It was the scent that made him delirious for her; it had driven him insane in Paris and then last night in Lyon. It then hit him that she had written that she wasn't wearing any underwear today and his cock pressed against his jeans in an instant.

Swallowing hard, he followed the scent almost blindly and found Bella sunbathing in a pop-up beach tent. She seemed to be asleep, the top half of her body - she was wearing a bikini top - somewhat shaded in the tent and her legs covered underneath a towel, her bikini bottom laying next to her, strategically placed for him to see. She was gorgeous. Hot.

He dropped to his knees and kissed her eagerly when she opened her eyes and looked at him with a big grin on her face and lust in her eyes. His hand immediately went underneath the towel where he could feel her wetness for him.

"You like your Scooby snack?" She muttered as they kept on kissing, using the kiss to stifle a moan that escaped her mouth as he pressed his thumb against her clit. "I do…" she moaned again as he repeated the motion.

He wet his fingers on her and slid one inside of her which was quickly followed by a second. This was hot. This was crazy and it was hot, there weren't any other words for this, and he was determined to have her come on his fingers. He wanted to take her right there in the sand, but seeing as it was a hot day out and still quite early in the afternoon, the beach was filled with people, a family of four just a foot away from them.

He admired her bravery, her boldness, as she wasn't afraid of showing what she wanted. Making her come in public was going to be amazing, how quiet could she be? He knew she could be loud, but could she be quiet too?

Bella's back arched into him as he kept working her, only briefly breaking off the kiss to allow the both of them to get a little bit more oxygen into their bodies. She pulled his head back to her to kiss him to stifle another moan and bury her hands in his hair. Isaac had the idea that she wanted to pull him inside of her, she was pulling that hard on his hair, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't stop," she breathed, begging. "So close."

"You'd better be quiet," he whispered as he kissed her cheek.

Bella huffed as she tugged on his shirt to create some space for her and pulled him down even further so she could kiss his neck and - oh, she was _so_ close - his collarbone before clamping down on it as she came.

 _Shit._ He hadn't expected her to bite down on his clavicle. He almost forgot that they were in a public place and managed not to let out a low growl, instead it turned into something throaty, something that piqued Bella's interest as she was coming down from her high.

"I'm telling you, you're a werewolf."


	3. Chapter 3

Almost like clockwork, the moment the sun went away Bella gathered her bag and left the unnecessary things - the brand new pop-up tent and a few towels - on the beach and dragged him off to the nearest hotel overlooking the beach. The moment they got into the room she plopped down on the couch and held up the room service menu. "Order anything you like."

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" He sat down next to her and looked at her. "You talk of wanting to celebrate your freedom, but since the night in Paris you haven't been out in the dark."

"It's not your problem," Bella said as she handed him the menu.

"It sorta is, you dragged me into this."

"And you can leave whenever you want to. No strings, remember?" Bella said, slightly agitated, realizing that indeed, she dragged him into her mess. She could get him hurt. "Maybe you should leave." She needed to visit a few ATM machines soon. Maybe that would hamper the search for her even further.

"Tell me this, are you in trouble?"

She sighed and nodded.

"Then I'm not leaving, Bella Swan."

"The fuck!" She exclaimed as she leapt off the couch and ran to the other end of the room - the door - as to create as much distance between her and him as possible. "How do you know my last name?"

He regretted having shown his hand, Bella's expression was one of panic and pain and he could hear her heart break just a little. "I asked a favor of a friend," he said holding up his hands defensively. "Something's off and I just want to help."

"What kind of _favor_? Are you working for them? A werewolf? Working alongside _them?_ " She walked to her bag and picked it up before returning to the door. "I knew it! Picking you up was too easy!"

"Bella, please," he started as he got off the couch as she fumbled in her bag. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he continued as he slowly made his way over to her.

"Stay back!" She got a can of mace out of her bag and held it up. "Our arrangement is over. You can go home, Isaac. I'm going to leave and you won't be able to find me." She sounded on the verge of tears. "I won't be able to get away from them, but I can sure as hell try and disappear for good."

"Tell me what's going on. I can help, Bella."

"No, you can't." She valiantly kept her can of mace up as she eyed the door.

He could hear how fast her heart was beating. She was afraid, but was it because she was unstable or was she truly afraid of something? "You know, if you truly believe that I am a werewolf, you do know that I can get to that door faster than you, right? The mace won't slow me down that much."

She narrowed her eyes on him as she hugged her bag against her chest. "I can sure as hell try to get away from you."

"Can I explain myself to you?" He asked calmly as he backed away. "Let me explain myself to you and then you can do whatever you want, I just want to help, Bella. I haven't done anything you didn't want me to in the last few days, so please, give me that."

She nodded slowly as she took a step towards the door.

"Look, I may not look like it, but I've been through my fair share of complicated shit. I've been in fights. I've seen scary stuff. Before that, my father made my life a living hell. When your behaviour changed so abruptly yesterday, I got worried, okay? At first I thought you were just insane. Maybe you are, but you're definitely capable of coherent thought so I give you that," he started, calm and reassuring. Her heart rate slowly went down, this was good. "You weren't giving me anything to work with, I realize that it's part of our agreement and I accept that, but you can't fault me for trying to find things out about you when I feel something's wrong."

"What did you do?" She asked with a whisper, tears welling up in her eyes and her heart rate elevated again.

"As I said, I asked a friend for a favor. His dad is the sheriff and -"

"No… please, please tell me you didn't ask _the sheriff_ to look me up…"

"I didn't. I asked his son to ask his dad," Isaac deadpanned and saw a small smile appear on Bella's face. "Did you know you were registered as a missing person?"

"I'm not surprised… but Isaac... you've made things even more complicated…" She had to admit, it was sweet of him to try and do his best but he did make things harder for her now. She definitely had to stop using her phone and credit card now.

"The report says you're unstable. Are you?"

She huffed as she sat down against the door and put the can of mace back in her bag. "I told you that I ran from my overbearing, manipulative son of a bitch boyfriend, didn't I? I left him at the altar, his step-brother helped me with that, but imagine an entire family of overbearing, manipulative asses. They lie and get whatever they want. They probably told everyone, including my parents, that I had a mental breakdown and that I need to be found."

"Oh," Isaac let out and sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "I've made things worse by asking my friend," he realized that he, indeed, despite his best intentions, had screwed her over.

"My dad is the police chief of Forks. He'll know that someone pulled up the missing person's report. They will start looking for me and if they find me, I'll have to go back and depending on what my ex' family has told everyone, they'll make sure that I'll never run again. They have a freaking precognition vampire on their team. She'll know what's going on the moment I decide things."

"Vampires, again? Is that some sort of metaphor?"

"If you wish," she sighed as she banged her head against the door. "They're not the only ones after me. If the Volturi catch me, I'll be dead."

"Who?"

"The vampire overlords. I was stupid enough to make a deal with them. Either I get turned or they kill me for knowing too much about the vampires."

This definitely sounded like some sort of mental break, a fantasy, but he did believe that the people she was running from, her ex-boyfriend and his family, were real people. Seeing the future was something that could happen. Scott would want him to help her, she was someone in trouble, if he'd walk away now, she could very well get hurt. "Are you sure about them? I mean…"

"Isaac, at one point they started to control what I ate. I wasn't allowed to see my friends anymore but they had to come to our wedding so they could see I was doing fine. They hated my best friend, Jake, who's a werewolf. His tribe is supposed to protect the humans from the vampires but stood down because of me. Because I was so stupid to fall in love with Fuckward," she then sighed. "I'm not crazy."

"Let me help."

"How? It's bad enough that I'm telling you this, I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"I know people. Here in France, or even back in the States. Let me help you."

She shook her head and got back to her feet. "No. I'm sorry, Isaac, but this is my mess. I'm sorry I dragged you into it, I shouldn't have. I'm leaving now."

He crossed the space between them and put his full weight against the door so she couldn't escape. "And then what? Spend the rest of your life running?"

"If I have to."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't let that happen," he took her bag and got her wallet out of it before returning it back to her. "And you can think that I'm a controlling asshole for this, but I am going to save your life, Bella Swan, whether you like it or not," he said with the biggest, goofiest grin on his face.

How could she resist that face of his? She didn't have any option and if he really wanted to waste his time on her, what else could she do? Maybe it was good to leave the decision making to him for now. Besides, he was a werewolf. He could take out the Volturi if he wanted to. "Fine."

"Good," he said with a nod. "First order of business, we're going down to the restaurant and have something to eat. Out in the open."

"No."

"Yes. And I shall tell you my story, it's only fair."

"What if they find me?"

"Then they'll find you and we'll see what we'll do then," he said with a shrug. "Just one question, why don't you mind being outside when it's daylight, with the sun shining?"

"Vampires sparkle in the sun, they don't want to be caught out or maybe they just don't want to embarrass themselves. That's another possibility. But it's both."

"Well, there's enough tacky light in the restaurant downstairs so I'm fairly certain they won't come and get you."

"You don't get it, they sparkle in the sun but they can be seen in normal light, you know."

Isaac sighed as he played with her wallet for a moment. There were simply too many rules for these vampires not to be real, but he would really believe her if he saw them with his own eyes. On top of that, her heart beat had elevated again. She definitely didn't want to leave this hotel room despite her threatening that she'd leave. "You're that scared to go downstairs?"

She nodded for an answer.

"You haven't had much sleep, have you? Over the last few days?"

She shook her head. "I was playing with you," she smirked. "It's fun."

"Well then," he rose to his feet and pulled her to hers as well. "Tonight I won't sleep. Instead, I"ll make sure no one will hurt you while you rest. I'll order us some food from room service and all you're going to do is relax. Let me worry about things for a couple of hours."

"I don't…"

"Please, Bella, have a good night's sleep. It does wonders."

"Fine, but I'm going to raid the mini bar too," she gave up as she threw her bag onto the bed and walked into the bathroom to draw herself a bath. She knew Isaac was right but it felt so wrong to involve him in this, despite him insisting on it. Now that he had her wallet, she couldn't run because her bank card was in it and that had been a great tactical move of his part. But part of her couldn't stop but wonder if he was truly on her side.

She undressed herself and waited for the bath to run as she watched Isaac from the door. He was busy calling room service to order food and once again, a feeling of guilt washed over her. He looked like such an innocent puppy. An innocent, _very talented_ , puppy, a little naive maybe. No, this was wrong. She was going to figure out a way to get her wallet back and leave Isaac behind. But first, a good night's sleep was indeed what she needed.

~0~0~0~

"First things first," Isaac said as he ate the remainder of breakfast. After dinner last night, he had given Bella a thorough massage in an attempt to loosen the knots in her muscles for at least a while and she'd eventually fallen asleep. He had slept lightly, just so he could stop her if she'd try to run again, but it seemed like he had nothing to worry about; she had slept all the way through the night and woke up around 9 am. "We're going back to Paris."

"I'd rather not revisit cities I've been to, Isaac."

"No, we're going to Paris and then I'll take you somewhere where I can help you."

"What part of 'you can't help me' don't you understand?"

"And what part of 'I can help you' don't you understand?" Isaac retorted as he looked at her. "Trust me on this, okay? I know people."

"You haven't even confirmed you're a werewolf."

"Why should I? I think vampires don't exist, why should werewolves?" He retorted playfully and then realized his own words. He knew of werewolves. He had seen a handful of weirdo wolves like the twins. The veterinarian was a druid. To think that vampires didn't exist was just ridiculous.

"Fine," she replied as she got dressed. Even though she thought she was beyond saving and all she could do was run for the rest of her life, what harm could it do to believe that Isaac indeed had a solution? That he could truly help her? She was already doomed, wasn't she? "We're going back to Paris."

No, they weren't going to Paris, she discovered once they got to the airport there. Isaac had asked her if he could use her bank card and she had given her permission to do so. Apparently, he had a knack for running away and making sure there wasn't any trace and even if there was, they wouldn't be coming after her straight away as things took time and by making sure she was kept out of the loop of where they were going, it was going to be sort of alright.

They flew to Amsterdam after having landed in Paris and spent the night in a hotel near the airport, both falling asleep as soon as they hit the bed. The next day they flew to Rome and back to London before they caught the plane to Los Angeles. When they arrived there, Bella had finally relaxed enough to feel comfortable and not look around her like a skittish foal.

He paid for a rental car - well, Bella did - and then had her get some money out of the ATM machines scattered all over the airport, enough to tide her over until she was safe again. He explained that if they could look into her bank statements, they could tell where she was. Still, with multiple withdrawals it would certainly raise a red flag, but California was a big state, no one had to know they were going to drive for nearly 6 hours to get to Beacon Hills and she certainly wasn't going to use her card there. He'd forbid it.

Isaac had been thinking about giving his friends a heads up. Scott would definitely want to know that Isaac was coming back to town. Now, he didn't necessary have to stay at Scott's for the time being, because Bella was going to stay at a hotel and he wasn't going to leave her alone, unless they could stay at the Argent's… He sighed as he looked at Bella's sleeping form next to him in the passenger seat and decided to call Chris Argent. Yes, it was probably going to be painful to be in Allison's home, but it was the safest place he knew. Chris Argent was an expert hunter and there were weapons. He let out a breath. _This was going to be hard._

" _Hello?"_

"Hello, Mr. Argent, it's Isaac."

" _Hey! How are you doing? Are you enjoying France?"_

Isaac snorted as he shook his head. "Why did you leave there, all by myself? I mean, your relatives are nice and all but there was no need to just leave me there."

" _What do you mean, 'there'?"_

"I'm on my way back."

It was quiet at the other end of the line for a very long time.

"You don't want me to return?"

" _Yes, of course, but you know… a lot of things have happened."_

"Don't give me that bullshit," Isaac snapped. "I'm coming back because I'm trying to help someone who's been dealing with vampires."

" _Vampires?"_

"Do they exist?"

" _Well, yes, of course they do. Did this someone mention what kind?"_

"There are different kinds?" he asked surprised. "Seriously? She wasn't making that shit up?"

" _Isaac, what did you get yourself into?"_ Mr. Argent sounded worried and he could even hear a sigh. " _Drive straight to my place. Are you joined by that girl?"_

"Yes."

" _Yeah, drive. Don't stop. Just drive."_

"I'll be there in about four hours."

" _I'll be waiting."_

Isaac blinked when Argent disconnected the call. He had truly sounded worried and that kinda freaked Isaac out. He looked to the passenger next to him and wanted to wake her, ask her some questions but she hadn't slept much over the last few days. Neither had he, but she needed her sleep, nervous wrecks were terrible to be around at.

It was a good thing that they could stay at Argent's house and that he didn't need to ask. The full moon was coming soon and even though he could control himself, Isaac wanted Bella to be with someone who could protect her if he was incapacitated one way or another. Maybe he should wake her up and tell her that he's a werewolf.

No. He was going to wait until she was awake.

Of course, it was just his luck that she woke up when they were about to enter Beacon Hills. "Morning, sunshine, just in time."

"Huh?" Bella yawned as she stretched her arms above her head as well as she could in the car. "For how long did I sleep?"

"Almost the entire way," Isaac replied with a smile in his voice. "So, I've arranged for us to stay with someone who has experience in dealing with… uh… monsters."

She narrowed her eyes on him. "I'm not crazy, Isaac."

He blinked at her before focusing back on the road, trying to find a reason why she responded to that, but they had just driven passed Eichen House and mentally hit himself. "No, oh, don't worry, he's a real monster hunter. He hunts things like werewolves, ghosts and whatever goes bump in the night."

"So you do believe me," she stated as she pulled her hair out of her ponytail and fixed it again.

"Well… I didn't know what to believe until he confirmed for me that vampires were real."

"And you're a werewolf."

"Yes."

"I knew it!" She punched his arm in her excitement. "I knew it!"

"Ow! Easy," he laughed. "I'm driving here!"

She punched him again before crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't like it when people lie or deceive me, Isaac. It's been done to me for a very long time."

"I'm sorry, Bella, but it's a bit weird that you know about werewolves, we try to keep a low profile, you know. I'm not supposed to tell the first random stranger I meet."

"Yeah, I understand but with me saying you're a werewolf, the least you could have done was to confirm it."

"Once again, random stranger."

She huffed as she stared out of the window as they drove deeper into Beacon Hills. "So we're going to a friend of yours?" Beacon Hills reminded her a little of Forks - albeit in a thankfully warmer climate - but with more apartment buildings. It wasn't until she saw the town's center that she felt at home.

They drove into a suburban area, a nice cul-de-sac, and it reminded her of home. Not Forks, home, but really California home. Even in the darkness, she felt homesick to her childhood. Charlie used to drive up and down every summer to come and visit her for two weeks because she hated Forks so much. Even though she'd only been gone for a week or so, she lost track of the days, she missed Charlie and really hoped that he was okay.

Isaac parked the car at a driveway of a house where a single light had been left on. Yes, it was nearly midnight, but didn't Isaac tell his friend that they'd be arriving quite late? Where were all the lights? "Stay behind me, okay?" Isaac told her after she had stepped out of the car. "My friend is a little bit jumpy."

"Huh," Bella huffed as she fell in behind Isaac as he walked to the front door. Before Isaac could even knock on the door, the door swung open and all she could see was a flashlight. Isaac scowled as he got pushed to the side.

Bella wasn't impressed as she looked past the light to try and find a face. "Look, my dad's a cop, I know what you're doing, it's not working."

"What do you think I was doing?" the man replied, keeping the light focused on her.

"Blind me? Make sure I don't see your face? Want my license and registration, Asshole?"

Isaac snorted when the flashlight dimmed. "He was checking your eyes to see if you're truly human."

"Can't be too careful," the man replied before switching on the regular light.

"Well they aren't red, and certainly aren't gold so you can shove it," she glared at them as she covered her eyes while they readjusted to the change of light.

"Oh, great, Isaac," the man quipped. "You managed to run into a girl who has trouble with the Cold Ones. Well done. Of the two vampire species you could have chosen from, you picked the Cold Ones. Awesome."

"Tone down your snark," Bella snapped as she blinked against the light. "I picked him, not the other way…. fuck!" she said as his face began to clear in her eyes. "It's you!"

Isaac looked at Bella. "You know him?" He asked confused as he scratched his head before looking at Argent, who didn't seem too pleased with the entire situation. "You know her?"

"Oh, even better, you found _her_." The hunter rolled his eyes as he pulled the two teens into his home and bolted the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Chris Argent forced both teens to sit down on the couch and keep quiet while he put some lights on in the house before taking his place in front of them, on the coffee table. He looked at Isaac first, glad that he was still in one piece and definitely looking better than the last time he'd seen him. He quietly observed Isaac, who was used to his scrutiny by now and then looked at Bella, who looked him straight in the eye with a bored expression on her face.

He was glad that the girl was still a human. The Quileute wolves had been afraid for her; that she'd be turned into a Cold One and that they might have to kill her. It would have meant that the vampires had broken the treaty that had been signed between the Quileutes and the Cullens and all hell would have broken loose.

In all honesty, he hadn't been a fan of this treaty because all vampires were sneaky bastards and he had been more than willing to take out the entire Cullen family for the safety of the town. However, the Chief of the tribe had persuaded him to back off, that they had everything handled and that things had grown complicated because this girl, Bella Swan, who was basically a part of the tribe, had fallen into league with the Cullens.

He didn't go after the Quileute shifters because they had been created by magic to defend the humans from the Cold Ones in the first place, but yeah, it had been a rather unsatisfying hunt and a waste of time seeing as Beacon Hills was infested with werewolves around the time he had to go to Forks.

"You should call your father."

"I will do no such thing," she said stubbornly, not breaking eye contact.

"Or Chief Black."

"Nope."

Isaac looked between Bella and Argent, confusion all over his face. "So, when are you going to tell me how you two know each other?"

Chris ignored Isaac for a moment as he kept looking at her. "The wolves are looking after your father, he's safe. He's worried sick. The moment Billy called me that things were going awry and that you had run I wanted to go back to Forks and get rid of the problem, but he said they had it under control."

"It's not them per sé," Bella replied as she relaxed on the couch. "There's nothing you can do about it anyway, I only allowed Isaac to take me here because I have nothing to lose."

"Oh, I got it," Isaac said with a nod. "You were in Forks when Bella was there."

"The problem is though, that not a lot is known about the Cold Ones. The other species of vampires have been chronicled about so many times that there's an excess of information. I can't help you until I know more."

"And if I tell you more, you'll be in danger."

"Isaac, what did she tell you?" Argent shifted his gaze from the stubborn girl to the young wolf. Isaac could be a little bit sheepish at times, but he was an intelligent young man and an excellent observer.

Bella's face turned even more sour as Isaac recalled almost every conversation they had had over the last few days, even remembering her mentioning the Volturi and the deal she had made with them in order to save the person she was running from. It was hard for the hunter not to verbally attack the foolish young girl for falling for the charm of a Cold One.

Argent sighed as he folded his hands behind his head and stretched himself when Isaac was done recalling the last few days. "How did you two meet?"

Isaac scratched his head. "She tried to get me drunk."

"No, I didn't. I paid for your drinks, you got yourself drunk because I was drinking."

"You were flirting with me!"

"I wanted a fuck! And you're hot and I thought you were human at first!"

"So if you would have known I was a wolf, you wouldn't have come on to me like that?"

"I wouldn't even care about that. I mean, I told you, my best friend is a werewolf. I don't discriminate."

Argent couldn't help but laugh when he saw the dumbfounded look on Isaac's face. At least it sounded that he finally got some help dealing with his daughter's death. Even though he had his own tricks to deal with the death of his daughter - sadly ingrained in his blood as he came from a long line of hunters - he had hoped that Isaac would have found a way in France when he had left him there. If only it hadn't been this girl.

He made a mental note of calling Scott first thing in the morning, the teenager was probably still asleep right now. He needed to alert him about Bella's condition, he wasn't sure if he should tell her or even tell Isaac. Chris needed to confer with Billy, the Quileute chief, first. This was something that even he didn't want to explain to this volatile young woman.

"How about you two get some sleep, huh? We'll talk more in the morning," he eventually said. "Bella, you can sleep in my daughter's old room." The pained expression on Isaac's face said enough. "Isaac, you can sleep on the couch."

"I'd rather not," Isaac replied. "If she's really in this much danger, i prefer to stick with her."

"She's safe, Isaac. You came to me, remember?"

"No. Yes. But still, I'm going to stay with her."

"Are you sure?"

Isaac nodded as he got up from the couch and pulled Bella to her feet. "Come on, I know where it is." He took her upstairs and opened to the door to Alison's bedroom. It was still as he remembered it.

The window where he had stealthily tried to get through to get into her room, only to be caught by Alison and thrown onto the floor. She had turned him around onto his back and shoved a knife against his throat. Or that other time where she had put electricity on her windows simply to fuck with him. Yeah, that had been fun.

He noticed that there was still a picture of him and her on her nightstand and quickly moved to hide it from Bella. He didn't know why. Maybe he didn't want her to find out that this was Alison's room, the person he was mourning in France. Bella had saved him, in a way. It had only been a couple of days but… this was just fucked up. Why was there such a strong connection with Bella? It had taken longer to fall for any kind of girl before this and he simply could not explain this.

He opened the closet and Alison's scent wafted in his face. Taking a deep breath, he pulled out some of her sleeping gear and handed it to Bella. Isaac was relieved that the scent didn't hurt as much as he had expected it to. His brows furrowing in thought over this realization.

Bella had been watching Isaac's movements the moment they set foot in the room, how he know where to move and how he looked at the window, almost as if he was remembering things. "Can I make a guess?"

"Are you really guessing when you say that or do you just know stuff?" Isaac retorted with a smile as he pulled back the duvet to make it easier for Bella to get into the bed. Why was he doing that?

Bella shrugged as she plucked invisible lint from the clothes he had given her. "My guess is that man downstairs is your dead girlfriend's father and that this was her room."

"Awkward, huh?"

"If you really believed that, you wouldn't even be here with me right now," she smiled at him and gently caressed his arm.

He sheepishly smiled at her before walking towards the door. "I'm going to talk with Mr. Argent a little bit, okay? I have the feeling that I've missed a lot and I don't want to be surprised when we run into my friends."

"Your pack, you mean."

"My pack and my friends. Well, Scott's pack has wolves, humans and other supernatural creatures so… yeah. Pack is a good word, I guess."

"It's okay to use those terms around me, you know. I already know a lot of things and stuff."

He flashed her a cheeky grin before disappearing through the door, quickly making his way down the stairs. "Uh, Mr. Argent, is it alright if I make us a cup of tea?"

"Of course," he replied as he followed his surrogate son into the kitchen. "You like her, don't you?"

"She's something, yeah. Not sure if I like it," he answered as he put on the kettle. "She's nuts. She was high on the possibility to be completely free when I met her and then it changed the day after. I do know that she needs to be saved, to be protected."

"Did you have protected sex?"

Isaac blinked at him. "That is so not an awkward question."

"It's a simple question. I know that Alison always made sure that you guys did it safe, she was like that."

"She slept with knives, of course she made it be safe," Isaac retorted with a snort as he grabbed two mugs and avoided looking at him while he searched for tea bags.

"Then at least tell me you did the responsible thing the day after?"

"She took off before I could!" Angrily, he set down the mugs on the counter and looked at Argent. "And then, when I did catch up with her again, I didn't get the opportunity to do it because she was being insane. Paranoid. Black cloaks, vampires. And the day after… well, it was simply too late, wasn't it?"

The hunter rubbed his hand over his face and groaned as he leaned against the wall after closing the kitchen door. "We need to talk."

"I already know about the birds and the bees and I already got stung, thanks," he scowled.

"Not about that. About the girl. How I know her."

"Why? I don't see why that's important."

"But it is. You see, a couple of years ago we got wind of a huge vampire uprising in Washington. I tracked it down to Seattle and then Forks. Some Cold One was creating others like her to go after this young girl and the Cold Ones she was running with because they killed her mate."

"Okay."

"You have to realize that until I met Scott and until Alison convinced me that not all monsters are bad, I'd kill without even thinking twice about it. Fortunately, this happened last year, but unfortunately, it was a mistake."

"What do you mean?"

"Some Native American tribes have legends of mighty warriors turning into wolves or bears to protect those they love or deem worthy to protect, ordinary humans, for example. There's a tribe in Forks that had its teenagers turning into wolves, shifters, after a family of vampires came to town. More teenagers of this tribe turned when this girl started to hang out with this vampire family a bit too much for their liking."

"Are you talking about Bella and her best friend Jacob?"

"Indeed I am. Bella's father and Jacob's father have been best friends for as long as they both could remember and Bella spent most of her summers at the reservation when she was visiting her father. When she permanently moved to Forks, the bond between her and Jacob got stronger, much up to the point where he even got jealous that she was dating a Cold One."

Isaac scowled. There was a possibility that once this was all over, she'd go back to Forks and to her best friend. She kept talking about him non-stop anyway, he should have seen it coming. Maybe he'd kill Jacob first. Yes. What?

"Anyway, I went to the reservation to talk to their chief after finding out that some of his tribe shifted into werewolves. Yes. I know I said I'd shoot first, ask later, but blame Scott for that. I was more curious than trigger happy. I couldn't say the same for the chief, Billy, who'd rather have shot me on sight, saying that they didn't need outside-help and that they had everything under control."

"And?"

"At that time, it seemed like they did, even temporarily forging an alliance with the Cold Ones to defeat the army of newborns," Argent said with a nod. "But when I met with the chief, Bella was there, with Jacob. The chief explained that he understood my feelings of duplicity; knowing that I would have shot everyone on sight. The wolves were created to kill Cold Ones and yet, they were only making sure the treaty wouldn't be broken, not kill them on sight. When I asked why, Billy pointed to Bella and told me her story."

Isaac ran his hand through his hair as he poured the boiling water into the mugs with his other. "There's a reason why the Cullens and the Volturi are so interested in her, isn't there?"

"Of course. The main traits what sets a Cold One apart from a regular, Dracula type of vampire, is that they're even more elitist, arrogant and obsessive. From what I heard is that the Cullens are a coven of gifted vampires, such as telling the future or reading minds."

Isaac snapped his fingers as something connected in his head. "Bella told me about that. It's based on decisions. She's been allowing me to make them for the last few days as not to paint a bigger bullseye on herself, but that I had to be careful as by now we've probably been seen together."

"Great," the other man replied, somewhat irritated. "That means we probably don't have long until they've tracked you down."

"But what do they want with Bella? I mean, she's awesome and a tiny bit crazy but who wouldn't be after what she's been through?"

"Now here it starts to become interesting," Argent said as he leaned against the counter top and looked at the werewolf. "She doesn't know what I'm about to tell you and I'm not sure if she should, I'd have to ask permission from Billy Black first." he then thought for a moment. "Let's wake up Scott, having him get his ass over here so I can tell the story once."

"He won't like it."

"Bella's a human who's in trouble, he'd want to help because you brought her back with you," he pointed out as he grabbed his phone and dialled Scott's number.

While Argent was calling Scott, Isaac brought Bella's tea up to the bedroom, she had already settled in bed, but was staring at the ceiling instead of trying to sleeping. "Not tired, are you?" he said with a small snort as he set the mug on the nightstand and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I don't think this is a good idea," she said as she looked at him. "They're going to find me here and they're going to kill everyone who's in their way. I have to keep moving."

"See, that's what I don't understand about you," Isaac caressed her hair out of her face. "At one point, you seem to have given up and given in to the idea of you dying or turning. You don't want me to help you and you certainly don't want to take a stand and fight. On the other hand, you keep running and you're scared. You don't want to die."

"I thought I was free, then I realized I wasn't."

"Yes, you are free. You're free to do whatever the hell you want, give those Cold Ones the middle finger and throw your head in the wind. Who cares?"

"So, does that mean I can go?"

"No, because I do care," it was out before he realized it and shrugged when he saw the look on her face. "I don't like it when people are in trouble. I like to cause trouble, that's a whole other thing."

Bella huffed. "You and I are going to get into so much trouble tomorrow. Not in this house. That would be weird."

"Definitely. Glad we understand each other. Go and try to get some sleep, I'll be downstairs for a bit longer and then I'm coming to join you, okay?" He got up from the bed and looked at her. "Please don't leave, give me a chance to make this right for you."

"Still here. Not going anywhere."

"Good." He could already hear the front door opening. It was typical of Scott to rush towards new things that he could fix whenever he wasn't too busy, but even this had been a bit too fast. He was probably spending the night at Kira's, she only lived a few blocks away.

As expected, Scott was happy to see Isaac again and after catching up - the cliff notes, mostly, Argent started to tell the story of Bella as told to him by Chief Black.

"Bella's parents were divorced and on occasion, Bella would come to Forks for a few weeks. Mainly during the summer holiday. Seeing as Chief Black and Bella's father Charlie are close friends, she got to spend a lot of time on the reservation to play with Billy's son, Jacob." Chris grabbed himself a beer from the fridge as he continued. "When she was ten years old, she spent a couple of days as some sort of sleepover because Charlie had a police function he had to go to. Bella, Jacob and some of the other kids decided it would be fun to go to the woods at night."

"Somehow I doubt I will like where this is going," Isaac muttered as he took a sip of his tea.

"The kids were attacked by a werewolf. Seeing as the Quileute boys already had the shifter gene, they were unaffected - back then told it was a miracle and a gift from the ancestors, but Bella was affected and the following day she started to exhibit strange behaviour."

"A ten year old became a werewolf?" Scott said incredulous. "That Alpha must have been seriously deranged to go after kids."

"She's a werewolf?"

"The Quileute shaman, a gifted and powerful man, bound her werewolf side with a spell. Like you said, a ten year old girl to be a werewolf was simply too dangerous for everyone around her." He took another swig from his beer. "With the binding, he also took away the memory of being in the woods and bitten."

"Not that I'm not agreeing, but when she finds out, she will be pissed," Isaac offered. "Because this means that outside forces have been messing with her for longer than she realized."

"I think that she simply needs an Alpha to make sure that things won't turn into one gigantic mess," Argent said, nodding to Scott. "Which brings me to the next portion of the story. The spell cast on Bella can be broken."

Isaac's face lit up. If she was his kind of werewolf and going to hate the Quiletes for protecting her, it meant that he still had a shot. He cursed himself for even thinking like this but he couldn't help but feel a connection with her and now it started to make sense. "How?"

"Seeing as they're rare, the shaman thought it would be a good idea to only have the spell being broken by a true Alpha, in case she'd run into other Alphas. A safety, of some sort."

"Oh great, so if the tribe doesn't agree with you telling her, we'd have to keep her away from Scott, one of the people who can help her."

"Not necessarily," Argent replied. "The way I gathered was that the spell gets broken when the true Alpha uses his power over his submissives."

Scott grinned as he slapped Isaac on his back. "That means not to getting angry beyond no point of normal return."

Isaac rolled his eyes at Scott. Yes, he had an anger problem and yes, Scott had always been the only one to get him out of that even when Scott hadn't been an Alpha. But surely, it would be safe for Bella to hang out with them?

"The full moon is in a few days, thought of that, Isaac? I've seen the way you look at her, how you care. Do you think you could control yourself when she's around you, knowing what you know now?"

"I have to, don't I? For her sake, I hope that those vampires show up so we can tear them to pieces."

"Dude, you're so not going to be around her."

"No, I will be tearing up those vampires."

"And if they're not here, you're so not going to be around her," Scott said again, calmly as he looked at his friend. "Seriously. Last thing we want is you getting into wolf overdrive and sex her to death."

"That's a thing?"

"I don't know, is it?" Scott looked at Argent, who looked at the two wolves with a humorous look on his face. "What?"

"You tell me, Scott. You haven't seen Isaac in a while, what's different about him?"

Scott looked back at his friend and shrugged before sniffing at him. "Dude."

"What?"

"You're wearing her scent. It's like… masking your own."

"Yeah, we've had sex. Several times."

"Oh no, this is something else alright." He then looked at Argent, confused. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but I think that Isaac's fallen head over heels for this girl and has subconsciously mated with her. I think it's safer to ask Dr. Deaton, he has more extensive knowledge about how you wolves work than I do," Argent said with a smirk.

Scott hit Isaac on his head. "Dude! You're so not going anywhere near her at the full moon, nor near anyone of us because you'll rip us to shreds."

They talked some more about other things, like Scott going back to school with Kira, Stiles, Lydia and Malia and after a while, Isaac could hear Bella groan in her sleep. "Excuse me," he said as he got to off the couch and bounded up the stairs, finding Bella all tangled up in her sheets, crying. He had expected this to happen. Even though she hadn't slept much during their trips across Europe and their stay in hotels, when she did sleep, she had been kicking him.

He crawled onto the bed and pulled her into his arms and quietly shushed her. "It's okay," he said softly as he rocked her back and forth and flinched when his kindness was returned with a punch to his chest, quickly followed by several more. "Hey! Ow! Wake up!"

"You will leave them alone!" she threatened, still stuck in her nightmare as she fisted Isaac's shirt. "I didn't tell them anything, I'll come...don't hurt them."

"Bella, shh, wake up, hey," he caressed her hair but was smacked in the face.

"No!" she yelled as she pushed Isaac away from her. "Leave him alone! I said I'll go!"

"Hey!" Isaac started to shake her, which was met by more punches coming from her. "Bella please don't hit me, I'm not a punching bag."

When Bella started screaming, both Argent and Scott appeared in the doorway, looking shocked and Isaac felt helpless. He had been able to pull her out of the nightmares before, but that was because they had been on the run and she wasn't sleeping properly anyway, but for some reason, she had sunken deep into her sleep, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Bella, it's okay. I'm here."

"Don't… stay with me," she sobbed as she clung on to him. "Wake up, Isaac, wake up."

"I think she has a crush on him too," Scott whispered to Argent.

"I heard that," Isaac glared at his Alpha before dodging another punch. "Oh come on, this is worse than PMS."

When Bella started screaming again, random words this time and hitting the nearest solid mass in her sleep, Scott looked at the hunter next to him. "I need to calm her down, will that break the spell?"

"You're a true Alpha and you'll be using your power. What do you think?" Argent retorted. "Don't do it."

"I don't care about those wolves, you can tell them that when you call them and tell them that I fucked up."

"Scott, don't. It'll be the full moon soon and she won't be able to control herself."

"Do it," Isaac said. "Whatever you need to do, please do." He couldn't stand seeing her suffer like this. Nightmares were bad enough, Isaac knew that from experience but this was a night terror she wasn't able to get out of without some assistance. He knew she was aware of him as the punches kept landing on him, but she couldn't make the connection that it was him. Scott could get through to her. He knew that because Scott always got through to him.

"Bella, stop," Scott said as he was standing in the doorway, not partially shifting or using his abilities, but it didn't work. He was confident he had to break the spell. He walked over to the bed and pried her hands off of Isaac before turning her so he could look at her properly. He could feel his face change as he leaned over her. "Bella!" he commanded her, roaring as he said her name. Isaac visibly cringed and nearly lept off the bed even though he had known it was coming.

Bella jolted up and looked at the stranger's face, his red eyes and ridiculously long sideburns. "Who the fuck are you?"

His face turned back to normal as he let go of her. "I'm Scott McCall, nice to meet you, Bella."

She huffed as she looked around, seeing Isaac on the edge of the bed, looking at Scott and then turned back to him, snickering. "You're his daddy."

"I'm … not?" Scott said confused as he took a step back, but Isaac was sniggering.

"Oh, just great. Another one. Good job, Scott. Your pack should be called the pack of snark," Argent remarked before walking away. "Get some rest, we're going to see Dr. Deaton in the morning."

"Nuh, you're going to tell me what happened and why you all were in the room!" Bella demanded as she pulled Isaac closer to her.

"Good night!" Argent called from his room.

"Yeah uhm…" Isaac said hesitating, looking at Scott for direction but he shrugged in return. "You were having a really bad nightmare and uhm… I couldn't wake you."

"So you had ugly face scare me half to death?"

"Hey!" Scott said defensively. "I have a handsome face."

"Keep telling yourself that, honey," Bella said, not taking her eyes off of Isaac. "There's more. Tell me."

"We needed an Alpha to wake you up," he whispered cautiously as he met her eyes, nervous of her reaction.

"Why?"

"Because you're a werewolf." Scott said simply. "You have been since you were ten years old."

Bella started to laugh hysterically. "Keep smoking the good stuff. You can share it with me if you like but there's no way I'm a werewolf. I wasn't bitten nor am I magical."

"You are magical," Isaac quickly said. "The way you wrapped me right around your pinky …"

"Hey. This is not funny." Bella said sternly. "I didn't want to turn into a Cold One, why should I be happy about this? This isn't even possible."

"Call Chief Black in the morning. He'll explain."

Bella's face fell as she let the words sink in. "Who told you about him?"

"Argent."

"And who told you I'm a werewolf?"

"Argent."

"How does he know?"

"Chief Black told him."

"Fucker." Bella grumbled as reality set in. She reached for her phone and dialled his number. "I'm going to wake his ass and I'm going to kill him."


	5. Chapter 5

Argent had thrown them out to the yard when Bella's yelling at Chief Black became too loud for him to sleep to and by the time she was done yelling and hearing the story, she was even more furious. Scott went away to get them all some breakfast seeing as it was almost 8 am in the morning, and Isaac simply watched Bella as she paced around the yard as if she was a caged animal.

He knew what it was like to experience the first few days after being turned, even though she'd been turned so long ago, she was now fully aware of the changes within her body. Full moon was going to be a bitch. She was rubbing her wrist for a very long time, almost as if there was an itch she couldn't scratch but when he asked, she shoved her wrist in his face. "The scar's gone. I can feel the remaining venom creep into my veins. It sucks."

"Look at it this way," he said lightly. "At least now you have a chance to fight the Cold Ones yourself."

She stared at Isaac for a moment, considering what he had just said before a wide grin appeared on her face. "I'll rip off Alice and Edward's heads and shove them up their sparkly asses. I'll do the same to the Volturi but then Aro's head up Marcus' ass, Marcus' up Caius' ass and Caius' head up Aro's ass."

"That's the spirit." He understood that her emotions were heightened now, but in all fairness, this scared him just a little. If she was already thinking about doing what she had just said to him, he sincerely hoped she'd calm down so she wouldn't go off on regular humans. "Just don't go after humans."

She huffed. "I will kill Chief Black. And the shaman. I'll wrestle with Jacob and might let him win. Wait, am I stronger than Jake?"

"I don't know, but you're stronger than you were." Isaac replied as she started pacing again. "What about the sounds, they're not bothering you?"

"No, I remember having a sun stroke or a migraine when I was ten, it was worse then," she replied, shrugging. "Fuckers. I was at the reservation when that happened."

Okay, that was a good thing, he figured. She would still experience heightened senses, but at least she had had a taste of it when she was younger. It would make the transition less stressful. "What else?"

"I don't know. Ever since that migraine I had a severe dislike for blood. The smell… the color… I usually walked around with headphones on blasting music so I wouldn't get overwhelmed by noises. Mom wanted me to get tested for my anti-social behaviour but the doc said there was nothing wrong with me."

"It explains a lot though."

"Now it does," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "My whole life I felt out of place, out of step. Clumsy as fuck."

"How do you feel now?"

"Angry," she replied as she stopped pacing and sighed. "And whole." Bella ran over to him and jumped in his arms. "Horny."

"I told you, not here," Isaac laughed as he kissed her lips.

"Then let's go somewhere we can have some fun."

"Scott's buying us breakfast. We'll go after. Well, after we've gone to the veterinarian."

She eyed him as she wrapped her legs around his waist. "I thought he was a druid," Bella kissed him eagerly as she buried her hands in his hair, making sure Isaac couldn't respond to her. She let go of Isaac and fell to the ground when the both of them were being hosed down by Argent holding a garden hose after they had been sucking each other's face for a while.

"Glad to see you're taking this well, Bella," Argent greeted the both of them while he kept the hose on them as well. "Now kindly get dressed. Scott's already waiting for you two to come inside for breakfast."

Isaac blushed as he jumped out of the spray of cold water. "Sorry, Mr. Argent." He pulled Bella to her feet and nudged her towards the open back door. "We'll get changed, it won't happen again."

After breakfast they went to the veterinary clinic where she met Dr. Deaton. He introduced himself as the veterinarian, but over breakfast, Scott had explained that he was more than that, he was a mentor, a druid, and helped him and his friends a lot. Bella thought he was odd guy, the way he spoke was almost systematic, almost as if he needed to think of the words he was saying or simply because he didn't like speaking to people much, she couldn't tell. She was just glad that Argent had already filled him in on the whole werewolf thing and Isaac proceeded to fill him in on her experience with the Cold Ones.

"I don't see why you want me to check her over, Scott," he said to his employeé. "She looks in good health to me. Maybe a little underweight, but that's it."

"I'm here," Bella said frustrated. "No need to talk about me as if I'm not."

"I know," Scott replied to him and sighed. "But there's a problem. She had a scar on her wrist, created by a Cold One and it disappeared. She then said it was itching her way through her system."

"Oh, that is certainly interesting," Deaton agreed as he handed Bella a specimen jar. "Would you be so kind as to give me a urine sample?"

Bella glared at Isaac. If looks could kill, he'd be dead. "No, I'm not."

"Such a shame, then I'd have to resort to blood testing," Deaton said absentmindedly as he grabbed the kit with needles. "I was told you didn't like blood."

"I don't," she scowled as she snatched the jar from the table and headed towards the toilet.

Isaac grabbed a notepad and scribbled down a message for Deaton. Now that Bella was a werewolf, she could hear everything and he didn't want to let her know that he was asking Deaton to check if she was pregnant or not. It had been eating away at him ever since she ran the first time and never did take that pill.

Deaton blinked at the message and nodded before getting another stick to stick in the urine to check. "She might need some extra vitamins, although her werewolf make up should be repairing any damage done by bad nutrition or the lack of vitamins. Just make sure she gains a bit of weight, she does look a bit too skinny."

He still grabbed the blood kit. "And I'm still going to need to do this," he then looked at Scott. "It's best if you stick around in case she freaks out."

"Why would you need to do that?"

"Because of the vampire venom. I want to see if it stayed in her blood."

"I heard that," Bella's voice could be heard from the bathroom. "No poking holes in me."

"It's for your own benefit, Bella," Deaton said after he heard the toilet flush and the sound of her rinsing her hands in the fountain. "What if that venom causes harm to you?"

"Then it harms me. As long as it doesn't become a problem to everyone else," she simply stated as she walked back, drying her hand on her jeans before handing Deaton the jar. She then looked at Isaac and sighed. She definitely had plans for him. Scott, Isaac and Argent had faith in them being able to handle the Cold Ones, and now that she was a werewolf - always had been, she knew that the Volturi had to back off and that it was none of their business how much she knew or not. To be around Isaac for longer, she had to know if she'd be harmful towards him. She stuck out her arm towards Deaton while she kept her eyes on Isaac. "Fine. Do it."

Deaton kept talking while he prepared Bella's arm to get her blood drawn. "Scott, why don't you go down to the Sheriff and alert him that a missing young woman is currently in Beacon Hills but that no further action is warranted and that you will take care of things?"

"Uh, okay."

"I'm sure Isaac can handle Werewolf 101," Deaton smiled at the teenager before pushing a needle up Bella's arm, causing her to wince.

Bella wanted to smack Deaton, she really wanted to but she knew he was of importance to Scott. She was definitely going to have sex with Isaac later. She had this pent up rage inside of her that needed to be sated. It was a little bit weird to think that she could actually be saved from the Cold Ones. While Argent had stated the facts, it was Scott's positive attitude that convinced her that she didn't have to give up.

In fact, from what she could tell, she was going to love Beacon Hills. It was a little like Forks, but then much much warmer. Once Isaac would allow her her bank card back, she could buy a house or rent one. Oh god, her blood smelled disgusting.

"There, that wasn't so bad," Deaton said as he turned around, causing Bella to look at her arm. To see the tiny hole heal up so fast was mind blowing. Sure, her scar had gone and whatnot, but this was a fresh 'break' and amusing. No more broken bones or bruises, this was awesome. Scott was already gone, Bella hadn't even heard him leave. She had been too intently focused on Isaac to block out the idea of being pricked by a syringe and blood flowing.

"When will you know?" Bella asked as the sting of being stabbed with the needle ebbed away.

"Some tests I can already tell you, others take some time to cultivate," Deaton said as he looked over to the urine sample he had already put some strips in. "Oh."

"What?" Isaac asked, a slight hint of panic in his voice. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Maybe," he replied as he turned around to look at the two young wolves. "Will you two answer some questions for me to satisfy my own curiosity?"

"What's wrong?" Isaac asked again.

"I'm not going to tell you, just yet. I need some answers first."

Bella scowled as she hopped onto the kitchen counter. "And I want to have sex with my - _fling_ , so you'd better hurry it along, doc."

"Yeah, she's a new werewolf, I don't think you should poke her with a stick right now," Isaac nodded to Deaton. "Well, not if you want your head still nice and firm on your body."

"This is all new to me as well, Bella, please be patient with me as I'm trying to collect all the data to give you a better picture," Deaton said in his doctor voice, soothing and calm, just like he used on the animals. "You see, I've never come across someone like yourself; a werewolf but spelled not to be one. Mr. Argent went in incredible detail when he explained it to me, but I'm curious if you've had heightened senses or a temper after it happened."

"Yes." Bella replied curtly and then rolled her eyes when the doctor motioned for her to elaborate. "Smells. Not all of them, but the smell of blood, for example. Or the stench of red bull. Made me want to throw up. I listened to music a lot to block out certain sounds that kept echoing in my head. I always thought it was a remainder of my bad migraine."

"Uhuh, and what about your period?"

"I don't know, pretty normal, I guess, but my dad insisted I turned into a hell beast."

Isaac couldn't help but snicker at that, causing Bella to grab a roll of towels and throw at Isaac, surprised that it actually hit the side of his head, causing her to mischievously grin at him.

Deaton nodded at that, before turning his attention to Isaac. "You're usually a sensible young man, angry, but sensible. Why did you engage her in France?"

"I didn't! She came on to me!"

"You could have blown her off, why didn't you?"

"Because at that point I could do with a good romp?" Isaac shrugged and then smirked widely at Bella before looking back at Deaton. "That's it? Can we go?"

"No."

"What else do you want to know?"

"Think, Isaac, think. Did her scent pull you in? Did her scent change over the days you spent with her?" Deaton urged.

"I don't know! Why is it important?"

"What about you, Bella? What moved you to go after Isaac?"

"Uhm, have you seen him? He's hot!"

"Yes! That was it!" Isaac agreed. "She's hot! Why turn someone down who's as hot as she is?"

The veterinarian looked between the two teenagers and tiredly rubbed his eyes. These two were a nightmare. "And you didn't think of practicing safe sex?"

"No," Bella said with a shrug. "I was with a cold, dead person. He was too much of a prude to dare touching me. No need for pills."

"Heat of the moment," Isaac nodded. "But! I did the responsible thing and went to the pharmacy first thing to get her the morning after pill."

"Which I refused to take," Bella quickly said. "Because I was going to die anyway."

"Yeah but now you're not going to die," Isaac pointed out.

"I could still take it, doubt it would work," Bella shrugged as she hopped off the counter and walked towards Isaac. "Anything else, Doc?"

Yes, of course. There were many more questions he wanted to ask because if his suspicions - and Argent's - were correct, this was something unheard. Or extremely rare. Was it cause to tell the teens about it? No, not yet, not until he knew more and confirmed it. And about that other tiny thing, well, there was going to be enough time to make a decision about that too - their decision, not his, but still plenty of time once he had gathered more information.

Deaton sighed. "No, you two can go. I'll let you know if I find something worth mentioning."

Bella almost pulled Isaac out of the office and once they were outside, Isaac dragged her off to the nearest rent-by-the-hour hotel. They both didn't want to inconvenience Chris Argent and found it awkward to even have thought about doing it anyway, but this was the best solution. The other one would be to go to the woods but the hotel was closer.

They couldn't be fast enough with undressing themselves the moment they stepped into the room. Isaac was all over Bella, kissing her, tugging on her clothes, thankfully remembering not to tear any as they'd had to be presentable after. When he had her all naked for him on the bed, he started to kiss her neck as his hand cupped her breast and played with her nipple.

Bella was so lucky, Isaac thought. He would have given anything to have had sex after Derek turned him and was still trying to get himself together. She was _very_ responsive to his touch, her body involuntarily moving underneath him and she was so beautiful.

It felt as if every nerve ending was on fire, every organ, every cell in her body when Isaac ravaged her, his lips now close to her belly button and his hand still on her breast, squeezing, tugging. It was funny how she used to read about the scent of a man somewhat changing when they got aroused. She hadn't noticed that with Isaac until now. His base scent had gotten deeper, more intense and intoxicating, driving her insane with every breath she took.

"Oh, this isn't fair," she moaned again as his tongue circled her belly button. "What about your pleasure?"

He playfully bit her stomach as he let out a short laugh and shifted on the bed. "Get out of your head, Bella Swan," he warned her with a low growl. "If you honestly believe that making you feel good doesn't make me feel good, you're mistaken."

"But..."

"No," he grabbed her legs and pulled her closer to him. He had planned on eating her out, but it was so much more fun to see her come for him, to feel her body play catch and release with his cock. Grinning, he plunged inside of her, causing Bella's eyes widen in surprise. "However, if you're still up for it after this, you can suck me, how's that?"

After they had gotten whatever it was out of their system, they picked up some coffee before going back to the Argent house. Isaac felt that it had been a productive way to get rid of his own anger and hoped that Bella would choose to stay in Beacon Hills once she was rid of her demons. If she'd leave, would he follow her? Yeah, he probably would. Would she want him to follow? Probably.

"What's that smirk on your face?" Bella snorted as they were walking back.

"Nothing," Isaac grinned as he put his arm around her and took a sip of his coffee. "But you have to admit, that was the best sex we've had since we met."

"Hmm…" she thought for a moment and then nodded. "I definitely feel more relaxed."

"Think you can get some sleep tonight?"

Bella shrugged. "We'll see."

"Alright, so, they expect me to tell you about being a werewolf," he said as he opened the gate to the Argent's backyard. "More like the rules and what to expect."

"Ugh." Bella said as she sat down in a chair and took a sip of her coffee. "Okay. New thing, new rules. Shoot."

"One being the most important one and the most sucky one," he sighed as he squatted down in front of her and took a sip of his coffee as he looked at her. "Even though some might cause you to want to rip their heads off, humans are a no-go when it comes to hurting them. Especially Stiles. He's Scott's best friend, any harm come to him and we all suffer from it."

"No harming humans, got it."

He then thought for a moment and shrugged. "I suppose beating them up is okay, as long you don't bite or scratch. But Stiles is still off limits."

"I like that idea better," she said with a nod. "What else? Let me guess… don't let the humans know you're a werewolf. It's kinda obvious. Use strength around humans in moderation, especially seeing as I'm a girl and girls aren't supposed to be strong." When Isaac gave her a surprised expression, she rolled her eyes at him. "Hello? I spent years with vampires and surrounded by werewolves."

"Okay," he laughed. "I forgot about that."

"Uhuh," she eyed him suspiciously. "What else is there?"

"Your wolves, your best friend, does he have any problems around the full moon?"

Bella shook her head. "They're not really wolves, they're shifters who happen to turn into huge ass wolves. They can shift at will after gaining control over it. Emotions are an issue though. Rage often triggers a shift. There's one, Paul, who still hasn't been able to control his rage so he still suffers from involuntary shifts."

"Huh," Isaac said as he took a sip of his coffee."You made me curious about what they look like now."

She fished her phone out of her pocket after setting her cup on the table and flicked through her images before showing Isaac. "That's Jacob with me."

"Shit, that's huge!" He then had to laugh. "They look like fluffy toys!" Yeah, they didn't look dangerous to him at all, so if they'd been magically created to tear a few vampires to pieces, then surely they'd have it easy when those vampires would come and find Bella. He really hoped she wouldn't leave.

"Will you show me?" She asked as she put her phone down and looked at him.

"Show you what?"

"You."

Grinning, he held up his hand and allowed it to phase into the werewolf. "This, you mean?"

"So uhm…" She gently took his wolfed out hand and ran her finger up and down one of his nails. "I'm going to need some big ass nail clippers?"

"No," he snorted, surprised by how small and delicate her fingers felt on his hand. "Ready for more?" When she nodded, his eyes began to change color, a golden yellow. "Getting photographed is a bitch because even in our human state, our eyes are reflective like that of a dog."

"I didn't like getting my picture taken anyway."

He smiled widely at her, revealing his teeth, before his face changed before her, ridges appearing between his eyebrows that had been replaced with more skin, sideburns and his ears changed. When Bella gasped and let go of his hand, he grinned. "It's still me, I've got it under control."

She gently felt around on his face with her fingertips as she kept looking at him. "What's the difference?"

Isaac shrugged as his face changed back and his fangs and nails retracted. "Level of anger, distress, the amount strength needed… I don't know. It just happens. The claws and fangs usually come out though, makes it easier to fight. Although since we're not allowed to bite anyone, they're pretty useless unless you want to scare people."

"Oh, Halloween is going to be so awesome," Bella giggled, causing him to snort. "Will I be able to do that?"

"You already are, but it takes some time to get that under control."

"Okay," she said with a nod.

"Which brings me to the next problem," He grabbed his cup from the ground and took a sip of his now almost cold coffee. "The full moon. Forget about the myths that werewolves only come out during the full moon or that they can only change during the full moon. It's mostly like any other day, except, that full moon will be a hindrance. It will make you want to change, want to take a bite out of someone, the shifting is easier, you're stronger. Basically it gives you more power and it won't be easy to try and control that power."

"Can you?"

"Yeah, but I've had a few full moons to practise," he grinned as he gently took her wrist and enclosed it with his hand. "On my first full moon, Derek chained me up and I asked him how he was able to control himself, if he didn't feel the effects. He did, he just found something to hold on to, an anchor, to ensure he wouldn't give in."

"Kinky," she smirked as she looked at him. "Are you going to tie me up?"

"We most definitely are. Wouldn't want you to go on a rampage."

She licked her lips. "You do realize I have excellent self control, right?"

"I haven't noticed, really," he softly kissed her. "At least not when it concerns to pleasures."

"Ah, but that's because pleasures should be enjoyed and not restricted," she brushed her lips against his before she heard a window open from above them and the moment she looked up, she saw how Chris Argent dumped a bucket of water over them. "I'm running out of dry clothes here!" She called out to him before turning to Isaac. "Can I kill him?"

"He's human."

"Damn."


	6. Chapter 6

She met Isaac's friends - other than Scott - over the next few days while they were trying to come up with a plan, despite Bella insisting that making a plan would be useless due to the gifts the Cullens had. In the end, she simply gave up on trying to talk some sense into them and let them formulate 'the perfect plan' while she had convinced Isaac into teaching her how to fight with her new werewolf strength.

Bella wasn't even sure if the Cullens would come all the way to California to pick her up, maybe they'd decide it was too much hustle, but she knew for a fact that the Volturi were coming to get her for breaking her part of the deal, or at least her attempt of running. She couldn't help but to picture Jane's head separated from her body.

"Oh, Kira!" Bella greeted her happily as she put her arm through hers and dragged her away from her boyfriend as she bumped into them while getting something from the supermarket. "Can I ask of you a huge favor?"

"Am I going to like it?" Kira warily looked at Scott, who simply shrugged.

"Oh, don't worry, foxy lady," Bella winked at her. "I simply want to ask you if you'd like to be part of an experiment."

"Experiment?"

"Yep, I don't know if you can use it as a paper for school but if it works, it could benefit you all if you allow me to stay," She said that to Scott, who had this adorable confused puppy look on his face. "Because," she turned her attention back to Kira. "You're electrical, right? You can shoot electrics from you hands?"

"Kinda, but I'd rather use my-"

"Good!" She then turned back to the Alpha. "You can come too, of course. Isaac's already waiting in Argent's backyard. I just have to pick something up from the store and I'll be right there." She released Kira from her hold and made a shooing motion with her hands. "Hurry along now, don't keep him waiting."

After buying a jar of Nutella and some breadsticks, Bella made her way back to the Argent house with a big smile on her face. She had noticed a change within herself after the spell lifted, the shield that the Cullens claimed to have, the one that prevented Edward from looking inside her head, seemed to have evolved and she had the strength to push it outward. Isaac didn't believe her of course, and that's why she needed Kira. She was going to protect Isaac from Kira's electricity and make a believer out of him.

"Oh God, is it time for your period?" Isaac gasped as he saw Bella walk through the gate.

She looked down at her jar of Nutella that she had opened on her way home and dipped her bread sticks in and shrugged. "No, I just felt like eating an entire jar of Nutella all by myself," she simply replied before putting it on the table. She pulled Isaac with her towards Scott and grinned at Kira. "Try to hurt us."

"What?" Isaac stammered. "You've actually lost your mind!"

"No! Trust me."

"I'm with Isaac on this one. We can take a pretty big hit with us being a werewolf but…"

Bella looked at the two boys she was standing next to and rolled her eyes. "Do I have to ask Mr. Argent outside to prove a point?"

"I could kill him!" Kira shook her head, a panicked look on her face.

"Then stop stalling and just try to hit us already, I can stop it from hitting us, I swear."

"You promise?"

"Yes. If it doesn't work you can slice me up with your katana, I promise."

"What? No, that's not going to happen," Isaac said panicked while Bella had a huge grin on her face.

The bright light emanating from Kira blinded Bella for a moment, throwing her off guard - she hadn't expected it to be that bright - but she managed to throw up her shield again just in time and the three of them remained unharmed.

"Oh, that is awesome," Scott said breathlessly as he looked at Bella and then at Isaac. "Did you know about this?"

"No, but I agree, it's awesome, what is it? How can you do it?"

"Well," Bella said as she walked to her jar of Nutella again. "Edward was always frustrated that he couldn't read my mind, said I had some sort of mental shield. I became fully aware of it when the spell broke. Since I became a werewolf, I've been playing with it," she shrugged. "I guess it's the vampire venom thing that made it into a magical shield that nothing can penetrate it apart from fists and stuff. Probably bullets too, but I'm too chicken to try that out."

"So, are you staying then?" Scott asked as he looked at Bella. "Because if you are, that'd be cool. You'd be stronger if you'd stay with us."

"So would you, wouldn't you?" She retorted with a small smile. "To be honest, I haven't given it much thought - yet. But seeing as Isaac and I had an arrangement and I'm not tired of him yet, I suppose I could stay."

"What arrangement?" Scott looked at Isaac, confused.

"No strings attached. Sure there are some strings attached now that we've gotten to know each other better but we still can walk away and don't look back whenever we feel like it."

"Well, I think you two make a cute couple," Kira smiled at them. "You're made for each other."

"We're not a couple," Isaac and Bella chorused.

Scott eyed the two of the skeptically. "Right..."

"Don't be ridiculous," Bella huffed as she scooped some of the delicious spread out of the jar with a piece of bread stick and chewed on it. She knew she had to stop soon, it was simply too sweet and she didn't want to feel sick later. "So when is that full moon you guys are so worried about?"

"Tonight," Scott replied, causing Bella to close the jar. "That shield of yours, are you sure that it's just that and can't hurt anyone? And physical attacks won't be stopped?"

"Yes, but I've been saying it multiple times over the last few days, I have excellent self control," the statement caused Isaac to snicker again. "Especially with things that don't concern him. You're worrying for nothing. Besides, I'm pretty sure that the Volturi will arrive soon or at least some Cullens. I've been using my bankcard since yesterday."

"What? You didn't even inform us? It's pretty rare we can expect a fight to happen and what were you thinking?" Scott fumed. "It's full moon tonight!"

Bella looked at Isaac. "He always this uptight?"

"He kinda has a point, couldn't you have waited at least until tomorrow? Not because we're not prepared or anything but…"

"What? Argent said I could and that I should. The sooner, the better, he said." She couldn't believe how gullible Scott was when it came to this. There were veins in his forehead and Isaac looked wary as he had taken a stance next to her in case his Alpha would flip out. She couldn't help but snicker. "Down boy, I was just kidding. You guys seem to freak out about the full moon tonight a little bit too much for my liking."

"It's serious stuff, Bella," Scott said, visibly relaxing. "And that joke wasn't funny. At all."

"It kinda was," Isaac remarked with half a shrug.

"If anyone would be fucking up and reveal that I am here, it'd probably be the Sheriff for trying to contact my dad when he's not on the reservation with the wolves. I told Billy that I want to talk to Charlie when he gets there on his own, but he hasn't visited Billy yet so…" Bella said with a shrug. "The Sheriff could contact the Chief of Forks and -"

"He wouldn't do that. I told him not to do it."

"When it comes to missing person cases, there's nothing that a cop wouldn't do, even when told by a teenage werewolf alpha that he's handling it," she replied, looking at Scott with a sigh. "Trust me, he may comply in leaving me alone, but it won't stop him from digging up more information. He's a cop. It's what he does. And if it's not him, it'd be a deputy."

"Yeah but Stiles…"

"I know he's your best friend, Scott, and that the sheriff is his father, and that they have a good, open, relationship. Same with me and Charlie. However, he's still a cop."

Scott seemed to think for a moment and sighed. "I'll talk to him, again. In the meantime, better get some food inside of you, it's going to be a long night for all of us."

"And I still think you're overreacting."

"And maybe you're taking this too lightly, ever thought of that?"

After Scott and Kira had left, Isaac let out a breath of relief before squatting down next to her. "How about we go for the middle ground, huh? You meet Scott halfway."

"I already agreed to you guys chaining me up," she ruffled his hair with a big smile on her face. "Let's have some fun today."

"Like what?"

Bella shrugged. "If I'm going to stay here, I'm going to need a house. Let's look for houses."

"Boring."

"Necessary," she said with a nod. "Besides, you don't have a home either," she pointed out. "Wouldn't you like to have your own bed, your own shower, your own food without having to rely on other people?"

"Like you?" Isaac grinned and softly kissed her.

"Well, sure. If you're going back to school to finish your last year, I suppose I'll be doing the cooking, the cleaning and ugh. The laundry."

"I don't know, I stayed at Scott's house before. The only objection his mom had was that while it was somewhat teenager proof, it wasn't werewolf proof…"

Bella laughed. "What did you guys do?"

"Scott may or may not have ended up throwing me out of his room on occasion…"

"Okay, we'll be looking for a house with sturdy walls then."

"We?"

"Yep."

Isaac blinked at her. "You're stomping into couple territory now, you sure you want to do that?"

"We both know we're not a couple. What better way not to inconvenience other people because we're basically homeless? Besides," she said as a wolfish grin appeared on her face. "I'd like to keep you close by incase some _needs_ arise."

"You're crazy."

"I know," she replied, smirking. "The smell of real freedom in the near future is intoxicating."

~0~0~0~

"Why is she here?" Derek demanded seemingly annoyed when the group of teenagers entered his loft. "I thought you'd go to Lydia's lake house." Yeah, of course he had met this girl in the last few days. Once. Because Scott wanted him to take a look at her almost like a latest addition to his pack 'look what I got now!' and that shit. It was good to see that Isaac seemed to have completely fallen in love with her as the boy deserved it after what happened to Allison, although Allison had never been completely his. Everyone knew that.

"Well, one, Lydia's mom is hosting a party tonight. Two… this is the other option in case she gets out of control," Scott replied simply. "Less chance for her to accidentally snack on a human too, if she's here instead of… I don't know, our basements?"

"I hate the full moon," Malia stated as she stomped in, carrying a sports bag that rattled with chains. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it."

"Relax, you'll get the hang of it, eventually," Stiles, the doting boyfriend, walked in after her.

Derek pointed at Stiles. "He's human."

"Yeah but he'll be the only one."

"Fine," Derek grumpily gave in. "But only this time. You'll have to find a different spot next month. And, if they both destroy something, you're paying for it."

"What's here to destroy?" Scott smiled at Derek. "Don't worry, they won't ruin your pretty loft. Malia is actually quite pleasant once she remembers to focus herself and Bella… well… not sure about her."

"Bella says she can control herself despite not having experienced a shift before, but Scott doesn't believe her. Bella doesn't mind having to prove herself and doesn't get mind getting chained up while she proves it to him," Bella replied angrily as she watched Isaac zip open their sports bag. "In fact, she finds it very kinky and would love to ravage Isaac one time when he's all tied up."

Isaac blinked at her for a moment, unsure what to say. He decided to ignore the remark, she was probably trying to get a rise out of everyone else. Not him. Nope. His cock twitched at the thought of taking advantage of her while being tied up though. Silently groaning, he realized this was going to be a long night. When Bella sat down against the cold pillar in Derek's loft, he started to chain her to it, wrapping the long chain around the pillar a few times before securing her in it.

Bella retrieved her phone out of her pocket with the one hand Isaac hadn't secured yet when it started to vibrate and grinned as she picked up. "Hey Jake."

" _Hey! You're finally answering your phone! Are you okay?"_

"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded. "Didn't Billy talk to you?"

" _Oh, so you've spoken to my dad, but you haven't bothered to talk to me?"_

"It's complicated."

Isaac looked at Bella, a little bit impatient as he really needed to secure that arm of hers and frustrated because her _best friend_ was on the phone. "Gonna need that arm."

"Hold on, Jake, let me put you on speaker," she said as she turned on the speaker and put her phone in her lap before the rattling of chains could be heard and Isaac was securing her previously free arm.

" _Who was that? Where are you? What was that sound? Are you in some sort of trouble? No wait, don't answer that, of course you are in trouble, the Cullens are out for blood."_

He definitely sounded like a possessive would-be boyfriend, Isaac thought and yanked on the chain to make sure Bella couldn't escape. The first time Derek chained him up, he had done a piss poor job at it, seeing as Boyd and Erica needed to be tied up as well. Fortunate for Derek, Isaac had been a quick study and had helped him contain Boyd and Erica before they quieted down and Derek restrained him again as well. He didn't want want the same thing happening to Bella, really. Being manhandled was a bitch.

"Yeah Bella, tell him what we're up to," Isaac grinned at her, yanking the chain again.

"I'm being chained up." Bella deadpanned as she looked at Isaac. "By my fuckbuddy."

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone as everyone in the loft glanced in their direction curiously as they tried to go about their business as if they weren't paying attention the best they could. " _Please tell me that you are joking Bella,"_ Jacob eventually responded quietly. " _That's not funny."_

"Why should I? You could have told the truth about me."

"He knew?" Isaac looked at Bella, confused. "You knew and you didn't tell her? Dude, that's fucked up, what kind of best friend are you?"

" _Who the hell is with you? What is he talking about? What have you gotten yourself into Loca?"_ Jake demanded causing Derek to snort from across the room.

"I'm with my fuckbuddy Isaac, who's a werewolf, his Alpha Scott, also a werewolf, Scott's friend Stiles, who's a human, his girlfriend Malia, who's a werecoyote and a former Alpha called Derek who's also a werewolf. Oh, and by the way, then there's me. Also a werewolf," Bella said evenly as she shifted a little on the floor, but due to her restraint it was a bit harder to get comfortable. Isaac really hadn't given her much leeway. "I'm in chains because they think I'll bite their asses during the full moon which is happening in about… 10 minutes or so. I can feel the effects but yeah… not as antsy as Malia right now."

" _...Are you on drugs? Look, just tell me where you are and I'll come get you. I can help you, protect you and we'll fix you back… It'll be like before, like nothing happened. You'll like that, right?"_

"Spells like the one put on Bella before require a huge amount of power," Derek piped up. "No doubt some sacrifice has been made to ensure that she would never turn into a werewolf. Good thing the True Alpha came along, huh?" Whoever this Jake was, he didn't like him.

"Jake, I'm fine. You and the tribe can royally fuck yourselves. We're done. I've only been talking to Billy because of my dad but the first chance I get I'll rip out your throat."

"Is that the full moon talking?" Isaac looked at Bella, who shook her head.

"No. It's a pissed off girl who got her heart ripped out by her supposed best friend who claimed he would always be there for her then he upped and disappeared when he said he'd be there for her and then wasn't," she sneered into a deep growl. "Then he lied about her very being her entire life, after knowing exactly what she was after he became what he was and didn't tell her the truth."

"Oh boy," Granted, Isaac hadn't known Bella for that long and still didn't know her well at all, but he knew that she was stubborn in everything, even her anger. It wouldn't be soon, but she'd get her revenge on this Jacob eventually.

" _What? I helped Jasper help you, Bella, there isn't much I could have done. Tell me where you are, we'll figure it out."_

"Yeah, tough, Jake," Bella spat as she wanted to push the button to disconnect the call but could barely reach it. When she eventually did, she crushed the phone in her hand, redirecting her anger into it. "Oh, nice. That asshole owes me a new phone now."

"Yep, good thing we've tied you up," Scott said as he looked at Malia, who was already sweating as she tried to fight herself from turning. "Stiles, talk her down."

Bella sighed as she rested her head against the steel column she had been tied to. "Damnit, I wanted to know if Billy had spoken to my dad yet."

"My dad said he spoke to your dad," Stiles said as he sat down in front of Malia. "He's on his way over."

Bella let out a low, threatening growl. She knew it. She knew that cops being cops, would fuck things up. "Any mention of someone coming with him?"

"A worried fiancé, I believe."

"Stiles!" Scott whined as he slapped his friend on his head.

Bella only looked up with golden eyes and a thirsty grin as she was more than ready to do battle. "Great. I'm ready to rip his head off and burn his dick. I'm sure it's not much anyway."

"You're engaged?" Derek blinked as he looked at the girl who was sitting quietly in her chains, not struggling against her bonds or fighting her transformation. She reminded him a lot of Isaac, who had - thankfully - helped him restrain Erica and Boyd when they first turned. Lots of restraint in that pretty little head of hers. "But aren't you Isaac's girlfriend?"

"We are not a couple!" Bella and Isaac breezed angrily.

"Sure, sure you aren't." Derek snorted. "Seeing as she's engaged."

"I figured by running away from the altar that the engagement was automatically over," Bella said, fascinated by the long nails on her hand. "But it's okay, he'll get the message once he comes here, I'm sure of it."

The elder wolf eyed her with curiosity, his head cocking to the side in silent query.

She glanced at him with a smirk on her lips. "I'm now a natural enemy. I can't very well be his _mate_. You'll see."

Derek scratched himself behind his head as he looked at Isaac for clues.

"Some sort of vampire," Isaac replied with a shrug. "It's okay, I didn't believe her either."

"What kind of vampire?" he retorted easily. "The good kind or you know, the shiny ones?"

"The pansy ass ones with glittery asses in the sunlight," Bella grinned. "Gay, I know. Right!"

He thought for a moment before a big grin appeared on his face. "Scott, I know I said I wouldn't help you help your new pack member, but I'm in."

The boy was confused for a moment, looking unsure as he slowly nodded. "Uhh, okay? Do I want to know?"

"It'll be fun Scotty! You'll see!" Bella cheered. "Plenty of chew toys for everyone!"

"Good work out too," Derek deadpanned. "It requires at least some strength to rip them to shreds."

"Don't encourage her, Derek," Scott sighed tiredly. "It's Isaac all over again."

"Hey, I'm still here," Isaac said disgruntled. "And I haven't changed one bit, I simply want to do it for a different reason now."

A roar from the other side of the loft had all heads turning to Malia, with Stiles scampering away from her as she tugged on her restraints. "God, I wish I was like her," she whimpered through her impulses. "This sucks."

"You can use your rage and vent your frustration out on some sparkling assholes soon. Do you like blondes?" Bella asked curiously. "What about meddling midgets?"

"Doesn't help me much now, does it?" Malia responded angrily. "I'm trying to focus, but it hurts too much."

"Just take a deep breath, Malia."

"Screw you, Stiles," Malia sighed as she sat back against the wall and closed her eyes, zeroing in on Bella's heartbeat as Stiles' was just running rampant at the moment. Eventually, she could feel the moon's influence get to the background of her mind. "Destruction sounds good."

Scott and Derek both were watching as the coyote settled down, her sweating ease back with surprise. "Hm," was all that Derek let out on on it before he walked away. "I'll go get things started so we get you all trained before they get here."

"The pixie sees the future based on decisions. I am probably going to be able to shield you from her intrusion and Edward's mind reading," Bella piped up. "But it doesn't hurt to try and fight without making a decision on what punch to launch next."

Derek looked back at her and nodded in acknowledgment. Leaving the loft, he left the pack to handle their own so that he could tend to his business.

"Can we order pizza?" Bella asked as she tried to shift again, her ass was getting sleepy and she wanted to be able to move. Granted, it had something awesome to be tied up and all, but she'd rather have done that in private with Isaac and then having Isaac lick her all over and… Yep. She had to stop thinking about that because it turned her on. Her hands had returned to normal again and she was a little bummed about that. Maybe she could focus the rest of the night trying to make herself change again. Willingly.

* * *

A/N:

Dear, dear awesome guest who is responsible for me writing this story; I'm loving the shit out of your reviews. You, are awesome.

I know you said you were probably not going to read the sequel to Sanctuaire, but I wanted to inform you that I've chosen this month for Camp Nanowrimo to work on it and it's written in such a way that you'll get to see what happened after Sanctuaire and what's going on in the future. I'm going to roll out sneak peaks of the story on my facebook.

I still have a few chapters of Missed Connections at the ready and will continue writing the story once I've hit my word count for Camp Nano.

As for your idea for the Marvel story, as much as I can see potential in that, I won't write it. Marvel is not my corner. However, I'm friends with a few authors who do write some Marvel, so with your permission I'll coin the bunny to them? See what they can come up with?


	7. Chapter 7

At the end of a very long night, Scott finally told Isaac and Stiles to release Bella and Malia from their bonds. While Malia had been uneven throughout the night, shifting in and out, Bella had, as promised, remained calm and collected and most importantly; in control. It had been a good evening, everyone eating pizza while watching reruns on TV to get their mind off things such as the full moon.

The moment she hit the bed at the Argent's house, she had dozed off for a couple of hours, only to wake up because she could hear Charlie's voice in the living room downstairs. Groaning, she checked to see the weather and it was sunny out, so at least he'd be alone.

Isaac was still asleep, unfortunately on the floor because she probably kicked him out of the bed again in her slumber, so she had to tiptoe around him to get to the shower to quickly freshen up. She smelled of sweat, sleep and iron, and she didn't like it. A change of clothes wouldn't hurt, either.

When she got out of the shower, Isaac was awake, sitting on the bed, scratching his head. "Your dad's downstairs."

"I know."

"Are you going to tell him you're a wolf?"

"No, why would I?" Bella said with a shrug as she softly kissed Isaac's lips. "Go back to sleep or something, I'll be back in a bit."

"Want me to come with?"

"It's my dad, Isaac," she said with a smile in her voice. "I think I know how to handle my father."

"Just saying," he shrugged. "I'll be here when you need me."

Bella made her way downstairs as she put her hair in a ponytail, following the voices of the three men talking. "Hi Dad," she greeted him happily and hugged him when he got to his feet. "Great to see you're still in one piece!"

Charlie let out a sigh of relief as his daughter hugged him. "While I'm incredibly glad to see you're still alive, Bella, why did you run like that? You had us all worried!"

"I'm all right," she smiled at him as she let go of him. "More than fine, now." She looked at Sheriff Stilinski for a moment and narrowed her eyes at him. Too bad he was one of the humans she couldn't touch. She wanted to tear him to shreds for calling her father about her location, but then again, he was only doing his job.

"We were worried sick, you know," Charlie said, eyeing his daughter. "Is it drugs?"

"What?" Bella blinked at him. "Have you been talking to Jake?"

"No, sweetheart, I've been talking to Dr. Cullen, seeing as they saw you more than I have over the last few years." Bella didn't like the patronizing sound in her father's voice.

"Dr. Cullen is a grade A dickhead, and he can shove his pretentious attitude where the sun doesn't sparkle," she deadpanned, causing Argent to stifle a grin.

"That's no way to speak about him like that," Charlie said disapproving. "He's been setting up search parties and filed a missing person's report on you, even though I told him you'd surface eventually and that it wasn't necessary."

"He knew where I was the entire time," she shot at him. "Don't let them fool you, I've been using a bank card that Jasper set up for me all the damn time, when I was in Europe, anyway. They knew exactly where I was."

"Bella, calm down," Argent said calmly.

"No," she said angrily. "The Cullens have been manipulating me for years and now they've done it to Charlie, I mean, come on. It's obvious."

Charlie sighed as he pulled his daughter into his arms again. It was obvious that Carlisle had been right, his daughter did seem to be a little unstable. "It's okay, sweetheart, we'll get you home and get you the right kind of help."

With a growl, Bella pushed her father into the Sheriff and felt how her face changed into full wolf face, fangs and all. "I will not go back," she growled, ready to fight her way out of this if needed. She let out a little yelp when Isaac grabbed her by the neck and pulled her backward, almost sending her flying.

"Calm down," he said as he kept his hands on her shoulders. "No need to take it out on your father."

"He wants me to go back with them," she said as she met Isaac's eyes and calmed down a little, temporarily forgetting that she was a free person and that the time that she had to listen to her father had long passed. "He wants me to be miserable."

"Don't be stupid," he smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "You're an adult, remember? He can't make you do things you don't want, not anymore."

"What was that?" Charlie said shocked as he sat down on the couch, disbelief all across his face.

"What was what?" Bella smirked, her eyes narrowing as they flashed yellow again quickly.

"Your daughter is a werewolf," Chris Argent said as he took a seat again, confident in Isaac keeping Bella from mauling her father. "She was bitten by one when she was 10 when she was spending time at the Indian Reservation."

Charlie huffed. "There's no such thing as werewolves."

"Then how would you describe what you just witnessed?" Argent countered before looking over his shoulder to Bella. "He doesn't know about the vampires and shifters either?"

"Nope."

"Vampires? What?"

"And you were going to marry one?" Chris asked confused.

Bella shrugged. "It was better he didn't know, he wouldn't understand anyway."

The hunter looked back at Charlie in thought, trying to piece together everything again before running a hand over his face. "And that vampire is in town now. How much of a threat is he going to be Bella?"

"Depends on if he came alone," she turned to Charlie. "Charlie, did you and Edward come alone?"

"No, of course not," Charlie huffed. "Everyone wanted to come along. They left Jasper behind as he wasn't feeling too well. Something about a heat stroke."

She looked at Argent. "See? He doesn't even think that getting a heat stroke in Forks is weird. No bells are ringing. This is why I didn't tell him. And to answer your question; I think we can probably take them."

"Yeah, but you're not trained."

"True," she said with a nod and thought for a moment. "We're going to have a hard time, but I think we'll be able to. I mean, Derek's willing to help out."

"I think the Twins would be more than happy to help too," Isaac offered. "Sure, they can't become one big ass wolf anymore, but they're more than capable."

"What do you mean?" she blinked at Isaac, tilting her head to the side in confusion. "Twins, one wolf?"

"Twins, two wolves and one big ass puppy. Like, huge. Hurts like hell, too."

"Hmm," she said as she tilted her head to the other side. "Sounds interesting, how does that work?"

"It was freaky. Like… they'd absorb each other and grow in size and strength. They beat the crap out of us on numerous of occasions when they were still in the Alpha pack - pack of Alphas."

"And you can keep the vampires from getting into our heads?"

Bella looked at Argent and sighed. "Yes, but it won't do any good when we all spread out to attack them. Not that I know of, anyway. I could try, but yeah."

"I'll round everyone up so we can come up with a plan," he looked at Charlie and then back at Bella. "Maybe ask Deaton for something hallucinogenic, so Charlie believes he had a bad trip?"

Charlie rubbed his hands over his face. "I don't think I need drugs for that, thanks."

"Okay, Dad, crash course." Bella moved passed Isaac and sat down on the table to face him. "The Cullens are vampires. They feed on animals which is why their eyes are golden. If they're red, they've been sipping on humans."

"Okay…"

"And vampires live long."

"Got that…"

"Now, I'm a werewolf. Isaac," she nodded towards the guy leaning against the wall behind her. "Is one too. He has friends who are werewolves, and he is part of a pack. Like… there's one leader, the Alpha."

"Oh!" Charlie smiled. "Like wild dogs!"

Isaac snorted. "Something like that. And our leader has red eyes while the rest of the pack has yellow…"

"Unless you've killed an innocent, then they're blue." Argent pointed out. "Like Derek."

"Um…" Charlie started to look back at his daughter.

"And then you have shifters. Jake is a shifter, created by magic. He transforms into a big ass ugly wolf. If I hadn't demolished my phone, I would have shown you, but the tribe's wolves are there to fight the Cullens or any vampire who are a threat to humans."

"Wait, what?"

"Native American tribes are known for their magic," Argent started to explain. "It's their magic that kept Bella from being a werewolf all these years after she was bitten."

"Okay so who are the good guys and who are bad?" he asked confused.

"We're the good guys. The Cullens are the bad. The Quileutes… Well… they're supposed to be good, but they're full of shit. And when we're fighting the Cullens tonight, you're going to stay with the sheriff, and you two keep away from everything because they will hurt you."

"Now, hold on a second," the sheriff said defensively. "I've assisted with the Wolves a few times."

"Yes, you have," Chris said without blinking as he got up and started taking out a few toys. "But he has no experience in this and you will need to help him here. He's potential leverage for her if one gets past us, and you can help protect him."

"Bullets won't hurt them much." Bella pointed out. "Molotov cocktails will do the trick just nicely. They need to burn. Grenades, anything that goes boom!"

"Now hold on a second," Charlie said, causing Bella and Isaac to grin like idiots. "If they're as dangerous as you say they are, I don't want you out there."

"Dad, I can take care of myself," Bella assured him. "I'm a werewolf now. I have super strength, and I can heal faster." She held up her hand and forced her claws out. "These babies are sharp as knives."

"I'm impressed," Argent said, apparently just that. "You survived your first full moon and you have control over yourself? That's amazing."

"Does it hurt?"

"I'm all right," she smiled at him as she retracted her claws. "Seriously. And I'm sorry I didn't call but the Cullens would have found out that I'm here."

"Instead I brought them straight to you."

Bella hugged him. "No worries, I expected law enforcement to meddle with things. It's what you guys do best."

"I've texted everyone to meet us here in 30 minutes, it would give us plenty of time to go over the basics." Isaac said as he held up his phone. "Still hours to go til sundown."

"So you ran because you realized Edward wasn't good for you?" Charlie asked his daughter as she pulled away from him after her hug. "Why didn't you do it sooner?"

"Because I was stupid and in love. Or at least I thought I was in love, I don't know, let's just stick with stupid, and I've learned my lesson."

"You should have talked to me, sweetheart."

"There's nothing you could have done, Dad. Besides, the Cullens are the least of our worries."

"There's worse?"

"Oh yeah, their royalty. I made another stupid mistake because I thought I loved Edward, but don't worry, you'll be safely back in Forks when that happens."

"You're not coming back with me?"

She smiled at him and shook her head. "You know I never really liked Forks. Too cold," she then nodded towards Isaac again. "Besides, I'm not leaving that hottie."

Isaac blushed as he uncomfortably rubbed his neck. "You need to stop."

Bella smirked as she glanced over to him before focussing back on her father. "He has these great hands, a wicked sense of humor and he's sweet and caring. Oh, did I mention his hands?"

"Sweetheart, I don't need to know about that," Charlie shook his head.

"And the sex. Oh, man."

"Bella!" All the adult men scold. Argent then added, "You need to remember a filter."

"I will, but do you have any idea how freeing it is not to have to think about what you're saying all the time because you're afraid you're stepping on some vampire toes, and they could actually kill you for not saying the words they want to hear? Don't worry, the filter will come back, just… dad needs to know I'm happy."

"Maybe a little too happy," Stilinski mumbled as he sat stupefied.

"Sorry, my fault," Isaac grinned.

~oOo~

Charlie watched on from behind the window to see his daughter with her new friends in the backyard, shocked to see what was happening. At first they had looked like regular teens, good looking, healthy teens and then they all changed, their faces, the hair on their bodies. The two adult wolves looked significantly too old to hang around with those teenagers who looked like they weren't even out of high school. "You okay with all this?" Charlie asked Chris, seemingly the responsible adult.

"If you'd have asked me that a couple of years ago, I'd say 'no', seeing as the family business is hunting things that go bump in the night. But now? It's alright. Scott's a good leader."

"And their parents, they all know?"

"Well, Scott's mother knows. The Sheriff knows because his son is practically attached to Scott's hip and got his ass dragged into it because of the supernatural. Kira's mother is also a fox."

"A fox?" Charlie looked over at the ordinary looking girl. "She didn't change."

"No, but she's a Kitsune, a Japanese fox who can manipulate electricity," Argent calmly explained. "The twins, well, they're old enough and shouldn't even be in high school anymore… Malia has spent nine years as a coyote. Then there's Derek and Peter, there's no explanation for them, really. Peter is an unhinged asshole and Derek… well. Never mind him. Isaac is an orphan. We're all taking turns with him, with taking him in, making sure he's being fed and all, but he's a good kid, Charlie." He assured him. "He came to me for help after running into your girl in France. Kept her safe and in line. Still does."

"So glad I'm not the new guy anymore," Stilinski grinned as he handed the two men a mug of coffee to continue to observe the kids in the yard. "Isaac truly is a great kid. You shouldn't be too worried about your daughter anymore."

Charlie had been watching his daughter through the window; her head had turned up towards where they were as if she knew exactly where they were. She looked at them irritated before stomping off in annoyance and he looked at the men with raised eyebrows hoping they could explain his temperamental daughter's actions.

"Also, the wolves have super hearing, it's best not to discuss them while they're in hearing range," Argent grinned as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well great. And just how far is this hearing range extend?"

"Depends on the wolf, how well they got things under control, if they're an Alpha or not…"

"Bella?"

Argent shrugged. "Until she accepts Scott as her Alpha, she's packless, so she's an Omega, the lowest rank of the wolves," he looked at her and Scott. "She's in control, so her hearing range is alright, I suppose. Maybe several blocks in her wolf form."

"Fuckers," Bella muttered as she sighed and looked at Isaac, who had been listening in as well, with a big grin on his face.

"He's right, you know."

"Are the twins in your pack?" She asked Scott. They looked like bulldozers, quite scary if she had to be honest. She didn't trust them, and she certainly didn't like Aiden.

"No."

"He doesn't trust us enough, so feel flattered that he wants you," Aiden remarked with a smirk. "Everyone wants you, don't they? How does it feel to be so popular?"

"Aiden, shut up." Ethan rolled his eyes at his brother.

She let out a groan as she looked at Scott. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing," he said laughing. "It's your choice. I mean, you probably will fight me on most decisions, but that's good. I don't always make the right choice and as much as Stiles hated Isaac's input most of the time, it worked. So why not have you too?"

She let out a low growl and gave a slight nod, not wanting to say it out loud, mainly because now she would have something that would tie her down, again.

"And hey, if it doesn't work out, you can leave whenever you want to. Be an omega or find a different Alpha. It's all good but know that I'd be happy to have you."

She nodded again as she turned to Isaac, grinning mischievously and set off her feet, jumping at him, flipping herself midair as she used his shoulders for stability before landing on her feet gracefully and kicked him in his back.

"Hey!"

"Hi," she grinned.

"Well, I suppose that's new." Charlie said, blinking at his daughter's agility. "She wasn't even able to run without falling over her own feet."

Bella grabbed a cushion from the chair and lobbed it towards the window where the three men were observing them from. "They need to stop."

"Aw, Bella's dad is proud of his little girl," Aiden teased, causing Bella to fling herself at him, but he easily deflected her and pushed her away mid jump. "I like your new toy, Isaac."

Isaac growled in response, moving in preparation to attack to defend her. "Don't talk about her like that..."

"Aw, just harmless fun," Aiden grinned as he looked at Bella. "She's really hot too."

He took a step up to him, snarling. "She's off limits..."

"Why? Because you two make it clear that you're not dating or a couple."

Scott looked at the exchange, wondering if he should step in or not. He was pretty sure Aiden was trying to bait Isaac into a fight. Harmless fun, maybe, but something to seriously look out for.

"Hey Bella," Aiden said as he pulled her closer to him. "Want to date me instead of Lahey?"

Bella let out a low growl as she kneed Aiden in the groin and stepped away from him, taking on a defensive stance. What was it with this guy? Isaac had said she was off-limits, she was off-limits, why keep going?

He licked his lips as he kept his eyes on her. "I've heard you like sex."

"Aiden, stop," Ethan told his brother as he had his eyes on Isaac, who had gotten closer to his brother. While Aiden could easily take on Isaac, bloodshed wasn't part of this exercise. "This isn't funny."

Scott definitely had to step in. He quickly jumped between Aiden and Isaac and growled at him. "Stand down, Isaac."

"Oh, come on, Scott." Aiden whined before cowering when Scott turned around to face him. "Fine, fine. Sheez, she's just a hot piece of ass, who cares?"

"No, no no," Scott pushed against Isaac as he wanted to push passed Scott to do something to Aiden. "Isaac!" He hated to step on his stripes with Isaac, but that was the only way to get through to him. At least this was a verbal warning instead of his growl. Isaac physically relaxed and took a few steps back before tripping over something and landed on his ass in the grass.

Bella quickly made her way over to Isaac to make sure he was okay and scowled at Scott, so much for having some fun with Aiden. Surely, she and Isaac could take him. She sat down behind him and protectively put her arms around him as she ruffled Isaac's hair.

"Well," Peter said lightly. "Who wants take out? I'm buying."

"Chinese?" Bella perked up. "I love Chinese!"

A/N: I'm still knee deep in Camp Nanowrimo, jump starting Pandore, the sequel to Sanctuaire. There's only one more finished chapter of Missed Connections left and I shall upload it when I've written the next 10.000 words on Pandore. Yep, keeping it close to my chest! If you want to see what I'm up to, go visit my facebook page (link in my profile) where I share teasers for Pandore, but also deleted scenes and thoughts about the process. 

Dear Awesome Guest: Where's your PM? I'm curious now :) I can completely understand why you're reviewing as Guest. I did that for a very long time as well, sometimes people just don't like the truth about their writing even when it's brought in a nice package with kind words and will end up sending flames. Which is silly because you're posting in a public place and should be able to deal with that kind of (constructive) criticism. Deaton will come with his test results in chapter 9 and yes, Isaac is in for a surprise! (But they're so not a couple, even if Bella says that she's going to buy THEM a house and have him live with her. Nope. Not a couple at all!)


	8. Chapter 8

They had Charlie call Edward saying that Bella escaped to the woods to lure him there while all the wolves were waiting for the Cullens to show up once the sun went down. Bella was still annoyed by Aiden and had successfully thrown a chopstick at him during dinner and was surprised it actually pierced his skin, causing him to yelp and almost tear her apart. He would have, if it hadn't been for Derek and Ethan holding him down.

She nearly vomited when an unpleasant smell wafted their way, and looking at Isaac, he wasn't to happy about the smell either. They were well tucked away up in the trees, just to have an advantage, but she had to cling on to Isaac as not to fall off the branch.

"Bella, where are you?"

Bella blinked, this was so not the person she had expected it to be. She looked at Isaac and mouthed 'Jasper'.

"Come on, I'm just here to talk, they're on their way to get you."

It took her a moment to realize the smell came from Jasper and shuddered against Isaac.

"They will kill you."

Isaac let out a low growl and shifted a little to be able to jump off the branch. "Like hell…"

"Isaac, don't," she hissed but he had already jumped down to face Jasper, immediately rolling away because Jasper took a swing at him. Growling, Bella dropped down from the tree as well, surprising Jasper as she graciously landed on two feet. She moved herself between Isaac and Jasper and looked at him. "You need to go."

"What was that?" Jasper said confused as he looked up to the tree and then back at Bella. "Did you just do what I think you did?"

"I'm not saying it again, Jasper. I'm giving you an out, because you've helped me get away from your family. Leave. Now."

"What? You two, against them? Are you crazy?" he huffed, cocking his head a little as he couldn't influence her emotions anymore. "What's going on? Why can't I-"

"Manipulate my emotions? Or one of my friends?" Bella smirked as her eyes flashed a golden yellow color. "You'd have to thank James for that. Or Edward, seeing as he was incompetent in sucking away all the venom."

Jasper looked confused. Poor, little Jasper.

"Leave. If you're not gone in three seconds, I will end you and make a nice cozy fire out of you to lead your family right to us," Bella held up her hand with three fingers and started to count down. She wanted to spare him, she really did. He had helped her to get away from his family but, on the other hand, he had manipulated her emotions willingly. He deserved to die. She made the decision to kill him once the countdown was over and he hadn't moved.

She knew it would be hard to go up against the Major with Isaac, she could hear the others in the trees, silently cursing her and Isaac for going after Jasper, but to be honest, this was too easy. Jasper had come alone and Bella was out for blood.

When she reached the end of her countdown, Jasper was still looking at her, confused and nailed to the ground. She let out a growl as she felt her features change and jumped him. Jasper quickly deflected her attack by grabbing her and throwing her far away before taking a swing at Isaac, who had followed her lead. "Bella, I don't want to fight you."

"Then you should have run," she snarled as she advanced again, this time following Isaac and once Jasper had his hands on him, she jumped on Jasper's back and started to rip his head off. With Isaac holding his arms, there wasn't much he could do except for maybe jump in the hope to shake the two wolves off, but he didn't. He couldn't, as Malia had quietly followed them down and had dived for Jasper's legs which she was holding firmly in place as she grinned up to Bella.

Bella now understood why werewolves were the vampire's natural enemy. It was easy to bring down one vampire. She now understood the Quileute wolves' bravado, but she also knew that one Cold One was a whole lot different than a handful.

She didn't expect what happened next though, her cowering when Scott let out a low growl, causing her to fall off Jasper and scurry her way to the side, pretty much as Isaac and Malia did at the same time. Scott was angry with her, wasn't he? That couldn't be happening. Scott was a great Alpha. The Alpha was great. Holy shit, the Alpha was mighty.

"Thank you," Jasper said with a polite nod towards Scott.

Scott nodded back. "She's angry."

"She has every right to," he replied, rubbing his neck. Surprised by Bella's strength. She had almost managed to tear his head off his torso. "So uhh… she's a werewolf? When did that happen?"

"Not now. You do realize that we are going to kill at least one of your coven, don't you?"

Jasper shrugged. "Fine by me, they ordered me to stay home because they had plans for Bella and found out about my betrayal. Hell, I'll even help you, I want my own life back."

"Can I trust you?"

"No, you can't," he answered honestly. "For one, you don't know me. Two; I am partially responsible for Bella's misfortune in the care of my family, which is why I helped her out to begin with. In doing so, I showed her good will. You can't trust me because my family have ways to exert control over me, but I'm willing to fight on your side so that Bella can have a normal life, free from my family at least."

"Good enough for me," Scott said with a nod, appreciating Jasper's honesty.

Isaac helped Bella to her feet and grinned. "You didn't expect him to have that effect on you, huh?"

She shook her head as she looked at Jasper. She still wanted to tear off his head, but Scott had called her off. Was he going to do that with Edward too, if Edward would show remorse? If so, she was definitely going to try and fight it. Edward was hers. She shrugged off the stunned feeling and followed Isaac back up the tree, glad to feel his arm around her for safety. "Asshole."

"Who? Scott or Jasper?" Isaac snorted.

"Both."

"Well, no doubt the noise would have alerted them to our location, so that's a plus."

She snorted as a response and took a deep breath to remind herself to keep breathing.

"Can't wait to see who you've been hanging around with," Isaac whispered in her ear. "And to see you tear him to shreds because he deserves it."

"He's a douche," she grinned and took another deep breath to get rid of Jasper's awful scent in her nose. "Ugh, he smells bad."

"Like rotten eggs."

"Rotting corpse, more like."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Jasper's voice sounded, Bella could detect a smile in his voice though.

Bella huffed. "So?"

"If I can hear you, they can probably can too."

"Good," She shifted a little on her branch and saw some movement in the distance. "Heads up."

The vampires came to a halt right in the spot where she had attacked Jasper, their scent being overwhelmingly terrible and she found herself once again fighting against the nausea. "I don't smell her," Emmett spoke as he looked around. "Jasper was here."

"I thought you took care of him," Edward remarked as he looked as if he was constipated, obviously trying to get a read on anything around them but Bella's shield worked better than she expected.

"Not good enough."

"Boring." Bella yawned as she dropped out of the tree and rolled away from the Cullens to a safer distance.

"Bella," Edward said surprised, almost as if nothing was going on, more in a way of 'hey, we happen to be in the same spot at the same time' kinda way. She waited for the 'What are you doing here' but it never came.

"I ran away for a reason," she said as she focused on him, she was pretty sure that the others had eyes on the other vampires. "In case you don't know, but running away usually means that it's over."

"You don't mean that. Let's go home, we'll fix you up."

"No."

"Bella, come on, don't be like this," Edward pleaded and it was hard for her to keep a straight face. "Charlie's with us as well, you'd like to see your dad again, right?"

"I've already spoken to him and you're not going to do anything to hurt him."

"Well, what about Jacob? He missed you a lot."

"I don't care about Jacob," she growled as her eyes flashed yellow. "What I do care about is ripping out your throat and shove it up your ass, but I'll settle for removing your head and set you on fire."

"Oh my God," Alice gasped upon seeing Bella's eyes. "Bella! You're sick! Let Carlisle have a look at you!"

She took a step back as Alice and Carlisle approached her, lowering herself somewhat to the ground as she could hear every wolf in the trees take shallow breaths, but she could feel their anticipation, their determination to hurt anyone who was going to hurt her. "I'm finally who I was supposed to be. Put your hands on me and you'll regret it."

"Bella…"

"Stop Bella-ing me!" She let out a roar as she felt how her hands turned into claws. "You have two options; one: You leave me alone. Not just me, but you'll stay away from Charlie as well. Move to a different town, whatever. Two: If you decide you're not leaving without me, you'll be dead. Your choice."

"Alright, that's enough. You're coming with me," Edward said and before she knew it, he had his arms around her, squeezing her tightly, but only for a moment as he got pulled off of her by Isaac. The rest of them, Scott, Malia, Derek and the twins, were on the ground as well and Kira and Argent had gotten close to them. The wolves moved between Edward and the rest of the vampires as to isolate him just for Bella and she was thankful for that.

"What the hell, Bella!" Emmett cried out and focused his gaze on Aiden. "I can take you. Easily."

"Calm down," Carlisle spoke in his soothing doctor voice. "Let's not get Bella's new friends killed, I'm sure we can come to a peaceful solution that's beneficial for all of us."

Isaac watched Edward as the vampire returned to them. He couldn't understand why Bella had fallen for him, really. He looked like a pompous ass, the way that he moved, the way that he looked at all of them, as if he was better than them. Maybe humans were more susceptible to some sort of charm that he had tucked away somewhere, but Isaac was glad that his Bella saw sense. _What?_

"She's not going anywhere with you," Scott spoke up. "We've all heard what you've done and how you've been treating her, she's staying. Like Bella said, you have two options to choose from. What's it going to be?"

"We can take them, Carlisle. They're not the Quiletes," Emmett said, already hyped up and ready for battle.

"No, they're better," Jasper's voice sounded as he jumped out of the tree. "And you'll have to fight me as well."

"Jasper, don't do this," Alice breathed out. "Please, don't."

"Option two it is," Bella growled as she lunged herself at Edward, knocking him down to the ground by force. She struggled a little to make sure he couldn't push her off of him, but after realizing that his arms came right off, she removed them and chucked one of the arms at Carlisle's head.

While Isaac held Edward down by pressing down on his shoulders, Bella shimmied down Edward's body and started to open his pants, while keeping her eyes on Isaac. With a grin on her face, she felt around for Edward's parts and tore off his cock with ease. "Aww, would you look at that, I was right," she said as she held up the appendage. "A tiny little glitter weiner! Alice! Catch!"

"Bella, stop, please," Edward pleaded as he tried to shake Isaac off of him.

She reached into his pants again and retrieved his balls. "And look! Mini glitter bombs! Rosalie, these are for you!"

"Remind me not to piss her off," Derek said amused as he easily removed the head of what looked like Carlisle's mate while everyone was distracted by her display.

"Jasper, stop!" Alice squealed in agony as Jasper lunged at her. "Please, please don't. I love you. You know that, right?"

"We have to pay for what we've done to her," Jasper said as he took his wife in a headlock. "Either you will come with me to Volterra after this is over or I will kill you right now." He didn't want to kill her but he also knew that he was probably going to Volterra on his own; she never wanted to be in Aro's service. Neither did he, but it was punishment for breaking the rules.

"With you?" Alice asked as she looked at her mate. "Not without you?"

"With me, darlin'," he assured her as he loosened his hold on her. "It'll be over before you know it."

"I don't want to fight them."

"Then don't." Jasper said as he let go of her and softly kissed her. "You'll be alright."

Bella, in the meantime, was oblivious to the others fighting the Cullens as she contemplated what to do next to Edward. There was venom everywhere, and she kept an eye on Isaac to make sure he wouldn't get in touch with it. She could feel it burn, but it didn't do much to her, maybe because of the residual venom in her system, she didn't know. She didn't want to break off too many little pieces because she'd scatter them as she'd throw them away and everything needed to be burned.

Grinning, she dug her claw into his chest and ripped out his heart. "Mr. Argent, do you happen to have flares on you?" She called out to him as she pushed Edward's heart in his mouth and kept pushing until his mouth was clear but was obstructing the airway. It wasn't as if he needed to breathe anyway, but it was the thought that count.

Argent tossed her an emergency flare while keeping his distance. He didn't want to get caught up in the fighting as they seemed to have it under control. Bella certainly took her time with her ex-fiancé, and maybe that was good for her. Therapy. Yeah, he was going to stick to that word. Perhaps cleansing. That was a good word too.

Bella smirked as she looked at Edward, there were holes everywhere and venom still gushing out of his body. He deserved it. A part of her regretted doing this, but for the most part, she felt awesome. Empowered. Done. Finally done. She nodded towards Isaac to let Edward go as she got off of him and lit the flare. "Goodbye, Fuckward," she said before planting the burning flare upside down into the heart shaped hole in his torso and saw how the flames started to consume him.

"Carlisle, help!" Edward managed to cry out and tried to get up. Bella stomped on his knees to make sure he wasn't getting up and all he could do was flap around on the ground as if he was a fish out of water. "Bella, please, stop this."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes at him as she put her arms around Isaac and looked up to him. "A shame that our cozy campfire has a big mouth."

"Wouldn't it have been better if you tore off his head first?"

"Why? He'd still be alive then too," she said with a shrug. "He'd still have been crying for _daddy_ , but…" she looked ahead of her and grinned. "He just got sliced in half by the kitten and her huge sword."

"Rosalie!" Edward cried out, in hope to reach his sister, the flames were lapping at his face now and it looked spectacular.

"Shut up, Edward!" Rosalie spat as she tried to fight off the twins. "This is your mess! Your fault!"

Scott looked at Jasper and his mate, both having turned their backs to the fight and then at Rosalie, who made it quite hard on the twins to get her, but Scott had been stunned. The way Bella had spoken about the family was that Edward was their pride and joy, their special vamp, their everything and that the family had been extremely close knit, but this definitely proved otherwise.

With Edward having been reduced to a smouldering heap, Scott decided that they should end this. He had to admit, he had seen tougher fights, he had been worrying about nothing. Derek seemed to have the same idea as they both ran to Rosalie and the twins and pulled her apart. They then collected all parts of the remaining vampires that hadn't surrendered and threw them on top of Edward's burning corpse and watched in silence as the fire consumed them all.

"Where the fuck is Emmett?" Bella piped up as she had noticed that there was one body missing. "Big, tall guy." When everyone just looked sheepishly, she turned her attention to Alice. "Where the fuck is he?"

"Bella, you've killed the majority of our family. You got your revenge, just let him go," Alice said as she held on to Jasper, probably for safety. But just because Scott allowed this to happen, didn't mean Bella had to like it. "It's over. He'd be crazy to come back."

"Where is he?"

"I promise we'll make it right for you," Jasper spoke quietly as he looked at Bella. "We're going to make sure you won't be bothered by the Volturi and we'll leave you in peace. Just let him go, Bella. He used to be your favourite."

Bella huffed. "Why do you think I want him back? To show that I _can_ beat him." No, Alice and Jasper were right, she's had her revenge, but she couldn't help but want more. Just a little bit. Since Alice was now just as off limits as Jasper, the only one she could still go after was Emmett.

"What will you do next?" Scott asked Jasper and Alice as he looked at Bella to take a step back, and she begrudgingly walked back to Isaac. "Can I have your word that you will not bother Bella or any of her family?"

"You can," Jasper replied. "Alice and I will be going to Volterra and seek an audience with the Volturi. I can't promise you we'll be in time for them to call off their lackeys, but we will inform the Volturi about Bella's new status as a supernatural being. And we will tell them the truth about what we've done and shall accept whatever punishment they seem fit."

"Be well, Bella," Alice spoke to her. "I am incredibly sorry for what we've put you through." Bella rolled her eyes at that. Alice didn't sound even close to being remorseful. "Have a good life. You truly are special and just how special you are you will find out in about six months."

"Wuh?" She responded confused before looking up to Isaac, who shrugged. When she wanted to ask Alice to elaborate, the two Cold Ones had disappeared.

* * *

So this is the last pre-written chapter. But not to worry, I get to work on chapter 9 very soon as I've almost reached my word count goal for Camp Nano!


	9. Chapter 9

Bella growled as she looked at Scott. "Why do you see the best in people? Jasper's an asshole, and I gave him the chance to leave because he helped me. And he didn't leave. Consequences."

"Look, I get it, you're angry," Scott said as he defensively held up his hands. "But we don't just go around and killing people, even if they deserve it. That's not how I do things."

"So you believed him when he said he was going to hand himself over to the Volturi?" Bella huffed as she shook her head. If it hadn't been for Isaac keeping a hand on her shoulder, she would have started to pace around. "They're liars. The world is better off without them."

"Maybe, but I appreciated his honesty."

Bella blinked at Scott and looked at everyone else. It looked like they were all agreeing with Scott, except for Derek and Isaac and maybe Malia and the twins. She then looked back at Scott. "Okay. But if someone dies at their hands, it's on you."

It was unbelievable that they were okay with Emmett running off and Jasper and Alice 'handing themselves in'. Didn't they have a brain? Or at least a cunning one at that? It felt as if she was back in Forks with the Cullens with the way that Scott wanted to control her, to tell her what to do. No, this wasn't going to happen again.

"You need to calm down," Scott continued as he looked at her. "Promise me you won't go after any of them on your own or with Isaac. Don't chase them."

"Or what?" She asked furiously. The fire that was currently burning next to them wasn't revenge enough, it felt good, but knowing that there were still Cullens out there infuriated her. "You know what, never mind. Thank you for helping me. Isaac was right when he said that he had helpful friends," she said, throwing up her hands in defense and took Isaac's hand before she started to walk away, dragging him along with her.

When they were out of earshot and heading in the direction of somewhere that wasn't the Argent house, Isaac stopped her and made her look at him. "What's wrong with you?" She looked at him, angrily, before trying to walk off again. He took her by the arm and pulled her back to him, which made her even angrier than she already was and he then remembered their deal. "Right," he said as he let go of her.

No strings. Just fun. No strings, just fun, he repeated in his head. It felt like something more, far more, what he and Bella shared, but he didn't want to scare her off by telling her so. The look in her eyes told him that something had scared her off, and he probably knew the reason; Scott. Scott and the fact that he was an Alpha, and he could make her stop. Make her do things she didn't want to do. "You don't have to accept him as your Alpha, you know. Sure, you've accepted him, but you can just as well refuse him. He won't have that much power over you anymore." Besides, he had a feeling that it had been peer pressure for her to join Scott's pack and mainly just to shut up everyone else.

She stopped and turned around to face Isaac, thinking about his words. Yeah, she knew she didn't have to accept Scott as her Alpha, maybe it had been a bad idea to do it. She had rushed into it, thinking she'd be good with a group of strangers she had just met because Isaac knew them. Maybe, subconsciously, she had accepted Scott as her Alpha because she didn't want to lose Isaac. "Being a werewolf fucking sucks," she eventually said before turning around again and continued to walk away.

Isaac sighed as he followed her. Yeah, she definitely needed more time to get over things. He then whined. Sex was not going to happen with her in this mood of hers. Fuck.

Sure, Scott had a point, but after having heard Bella's story, surely he would have been smarter about it? Or did he just think that she'd fit right in and do whatever he wanted while she had a hard time trusting people in the first place? Maybe the whole treating her no differently from everyone else was a good idea in Scott's eyes, but Scott didn't have to deal with an upset newbie werewolf.

Come to think of it, neither did he. No strings.

He was just about to walk in the other direction when he heard a loud bang against something metal. Isaac was still thinking about what to do; to go after her or not, when he heard a metal screech as if something got dragged and lifted off the ground before coming down with a bang again. His first thought was that it was a good thing it was dark. His second thought was to walk away, but when he heard Bella sobbing, he cursed himself and quickly made his way over to her.

He eyed the dumpster in the alley, looking severely beaten up - and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride that his girl had done that. Damnit. Isaac quickly made his way over to Bella and sat down next to her as he took her in his arms. "Shh, it's okay."

"No, it's not," Bella sobbed as she curled into him and put her arms around his neck. "Why do guys keep saying that? Things are not okay!"

"Okay," he snorted and caressed her back, not saying another word as her body shook in his arms. She hadn't been this vulnerable to him, this open, while conscious, yet. It was mainly in her dreams that she was dealing with things and working through it, but this was a good step, wasn't it? Maybe now, with the death of that sorry excuse of a guy and most of his family, she could finally stop running, finally stop being scared and out for revenge.

"Would it be bad if I reject Scott as my alpha?" She was still sobbing. "I don't want to, but I want to be in control over me and he just…"

"How about you get to know him better first? Then make your decision?"

"I don't want to stay with someone can make me do things I don't want to!" she wailed and pounded on his chest with her fist. "I don't need him. I don't need anyone. I don't… I'm my person."

"That you are," he agreed as he kept caressing her back. It pained him a little to hear that she didn't need anyone; he had hoped he had changed that a little, but he could understand where she was coming from.

"But you won't ever do that, will you?" she asked with a little voice, looking up at him with hope in her eyes. "Make me do things I don't want to do? Or try to change me?"

"Why would I? You're perfect as you are."

"No, I'm not perfect," she shook her head as she started to cry again. "I don't want to be perfect."

"Okay, how about this? You're fine the way you are. A nice, sloppy, mess," He got to his knees as she still clung on to him and got up. He then lifted her off the ground as he got to his feet and started to walk towards the Argent house. They both needed some sleep, but at least she was sort of saying that she didn't mind if he stuck around? "And a fun fuck."

"Am I just a fun fuck to you, Isaac?"

"No, you're not," he planted a kiss on her head. "You're so much more, but I don't think you're ready to hear that yet."

She sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve, suddenly feeling exhausted. "Try me."

He sighed as he kept walking. "Maybe tomorrow, you've had a long day."

She hummed a response as her breathing slowed, comfortable in his arms and on the move and she was on the verge of dozing off. He had to smile at that; it was adorable.

~oOo~

Upon their return to the house that night, he first got scolded at by Argent for not waiting until he was at the car and for walking back with Bella. He then had a worried Charlie threatening him that his daughter better be alright - or else. Sighing, Isaac had taken Bella upstairs and pulled off her shoes before tucking her in. He slept in a chair next to the bed, not fancying to be kicked out of bed again, but not wanting to leave her alone either.

The following morning, after they had both sufficiently woken up and had breakfast while trying to ignore the adults; especially Charlie, as they were asking questions and Argent politely answered, they went into town to escape. Despite it being the day that Charlie would leave, he was far too inquisitive and Bella's mood soured again.

"I needed to get out of that house," Bella muttered as she had shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked next to Isaac on the main street. "You and I are going to buy a house today."

"What?" he impishly asked as he looked at her. "Already?"

"I told you. We're not going to stay at Argent for that long. Unless you want to stay. That house is going to be bought with or without you," she said with a shrug.

"You don't want to leave then?" He had expected her to make a run for it after her admission that she didn't want to be stuck with Scott as an Alpha. Or now that her vampire problem was over, she was truly free, why stick around?

"Apart from Scott, the jury's still not convinced about that one. I like it here, and you're here," her eyes grew wide as they passed a bakery and instantly, her mood lifted. "Hang on," Bella entered the bakery and got her and Isaac a beignet. When she offered him his, he shook his head. "Why not? These things are so good!"

"We just had breakfast; I'm not hungry."

"Me neither," she replied with a shrug. "But it's good." Bella then proceeded to take a bite out of it before they continued their walk. "So, let's talk house. What kind of house do you prefer? Anything you want?"

"I think it's more important for you to know what you want, it's your house."

"Our house. Yes, I'll buy it but it's our house."

"Yeah, but that's couple territory."

"No, it's not. It's just two people who live in one house together," she said as she took another bite of her pastry. "So, anything you don't want in it?"

Sighing, Isaac ran his hand through his hair. "A basement with a freezer in it."

She looped her arm through his and smiled up at him. "Don't worry, that was never the plan," she assured him. Isaac had told her about his father and what he did to him, the root of Isaac's claustrophobia. "I was thinking wide open spaces. Maybe have walls made out of glass so you can see everything."

"Not a good idea," he snorted. "It needs to be werewolf proof in case someone decides to throw someone across the house."

"Big spaces then," she said with a nod as she took another bite of her favorite treat. "Thick walls. Would be wise anyway," she added with a giggle.

~oOo~

Bella had asked the realtor whose property had been on sale the longest; she thought those people deserved to move if they were this persistent. Isaac knew the house; it was in his old neighborhood, and he didn't particularly liked the idea of living there. He let out a sigh of relief when Bella discarded the house for it having a basement. He was quite certain that she was going all wrong about this. He couldn't say for sure as he'd never bought a house, but she didn't even want to view the property, trusting the realtor on the information he gave her.

Then again, Isaac wasn't too worried. If the realtor screwed Bella over, he'd have an angry girl to deal with.

Eventually, Bella just settled for a house that had been abandoned by their previous owners after they bought a new house. Even though it had a basement, she assured him that she'd just get a cement truck in to fill it up with cement if she had to. She wanted to move in as fast as she could while she knew that she'd probably have to clean a lot first.

The realtor was flabbergasted when Bella said that she wanted to pay for the house in full, making it her own for sure without a mortgage and had to show her ID because he thought it was a prank. After calls to the bank, confirming that she indeed had the money to pay for the house, she signed the papers and the realtor handed her the keys.

Just like that. People with money had it easy.

He didn't envy Bella with her money; she had deserved it, and he appreciated it that she wasn't flaunting about it. It was a means to an end, and that's exactly how she saw it. She had money to buy a house; she wanted a house. Knowing her, she'd end up ordering everything she needed online. She kept wanting to hear his input about this, but they weren't a couple.

It frustrated him that they weren't a couple. He wanted to be a couple, and he suspected she wanted too but was it too soon for the both of them? It wasn't, they were doing things couples would do, like sex. Like… buying a house. Like… taking revenge on previous boyfriends.

She had him wrapped all around her little finger and he actually kinda liked it.

Visiting Deaton was next on the agenda; he had texted him that the results were in and that they needed to have a proper talk about things. Isaac feared the worst; what if the broken spell that turned Bella into a werewolf had altered her form? Had altered her body in ways that could not be fixed? Was he going to lose her?

"You're both adults, so this is going to be fun," Deaton said as he looked at the two people in his practice. "In all sense of the word, you're a hundred percent healthy, Bella. If you had physical ailments or a viral infection, you turning into a werewolf cured you of it."

Isaac let out a sigh of relief. Healthy meant good. It meant that she wasn't suddenly going to die on him. "That's good."

"Extremely, I was a little worried there for a moment that after having been contained for this long, the spell would have caused a major disruption in Bella's cellular makeup. But it didn't. It's also a relief to know that you survived the attack and turned into a wolf. It could have gone extremely wrong once the spell broke."

"How so?" Bella asked as she polished off the remaining pastry. She had saved that one to celebrate that she bought a house.

"Well, a few years ago, Peter attacked Lydia and she turned into a Banshee. Derek tried to turn Jackson twice, but as Derek was under the influence of wolfsbane the first time, Jackson turned into something far more dangerous than a werewolf. Eventually, he got cured and became a wolf, but for a while, he terrorized Beacon Hills. Then there's, of course, the chance of death."

"Jackson wasn't fun," Isaac scrunched up his nose. "He was an okay guy but not as the Kanima."

"No, he wasn't indeed," Deaton said with a nod. "But, back to you, Bella. I discovered that the vampire venom has indeed altered your body, but I think it's nothing to worry about. If anything, you probably have some added agility and it might be a little bit harder to hurt you."

"You should have seen her fight the vampires yesterday," Isaac smiled proudly. "It was awesome."

"Oh, yes, I've heard the stories," Deaton said happily as he kept his eyes on Bella. "Something about a shield and what not?"

Bella cursed under her breath before slowly nodding. "Edward thought it was interesting that he couldn't hear my thoughts before, I suppose with me turning and the added venom, the shield decided to fully deploy. It doesn't just stop mind probing; it also stops other kinds of energy."

"What about physical energy?"

"No, it doesn't do that. Which is alright."

"Interesting," he said as he looked at his notes. "Well, it shouldn't give you any problems with your blood at all, the little bit of venom that was still left has been absorbed and there wasn't any trace of it at all. I only found some cells that were strengthened because I was looking for it."

"That's good. Was that it?"

"No," Deaton said as he put his notes down on the table next to him and looked at the two. "I believe that you two have subconsciously bonded the first time you met and had sex."

"Uhh… we bonded alright, we had sex," Bella huffed. "What's it to you?"

"You don't understand," Deaton tiredly ran his hand over his head, trying to think of a better way to say this. "You know swans? They mate for life."

"I'm a Swan," Bella said with a shrug.

"The animals, Bella. The animals."

"Yes, they mate for life. It's cute. The not so cute part is when one mate dies, the other will die of heartbreak," Bella quipped as she sighed. "But that's their thing, it's cute."

"Some wolves are known to mate for life as well," he continued. "Although when one mate dies, it's not as dramatic as when a Swan dies, and the wolf will simply find another. It's unheard of in werewolves, to be honest, mainly because humans don't mate for life. However," he said with a small smile. "The information I've gathered from the tests and your friends, tells me that you two are quite something. It's almost as if the wolf inside Bella got drawn to you, Isaac, and the other way around. Even before the spell was broken. You claim not to be in a relationship and…"

"We're not," they chorused and crossed their arms over their chest in one fluid movement.

"Maybe not, but everything you do and say tells me otherwise. You two subconsciously mated that night, whether you meant to or not. Even now, I can tell that there's something special between you two that hasn't been seen before. At least not that I know of. And when the spell got broken, the pull between you only got stronger."

Isaac scoffed, and Bella rolled her eyes at the man.

"I know you don't believe me, and that's alright. I still need to do more research on werewolf bonding, but trust me when I say that you two are in for one hell of a ride together."

"That was the idea, yes," Bella muttered.

"Which brings me to the next item on the list," Deaton said, concern laced in his voice. "While I understand that the situation was a lot different when you two first met, especially with Bella thinking she was going to get killed soon, you two now have to consider your future together."

"We just bought a house," Bella said with a shrug.

"She did. I'm just moving in. I can't camp out at Argent's or Scott's. That gets irritating after awhile," Isaac quickly said as Deaton questioningly looked at him.

"I didn't mean that, but I suppose it's a step in the right direction," the Druid slowly said as he kept an eye on both of them. He was a little worried about how Bella would respond to the news, she was still a new werewolf and maybe not that much in control as others had lead him to believe. "You're pregnant. You're going to have a baby. I'm not sure when, but my guess is in six or seven months."

"What?" Bella stammered. "That's impossible."

"Is it? You've already confessed to not having used protection during your time in Europe together, and you've bonded together on your first night," Deaton pointed out. "Magic has its way." A panicked look appeared on Bella's face that mirrored the one on Isaac's face. "You will be fine."

"We can't keep it," Bella squeaked as she shook her head. "No."

"Don't make any rash decisions. Take some days to think this over, but not too long because then I won't be able to do anything about it," Deaton said calmly. "This is not something to be taken lightly. Talk to each other about this, decide what you want. Think of your future."

"Get rid of it."

"No," Isaac said calmly, despite his heart racing, as he put his hand on Bella's back and gently held it there. "Deaton's right, we need to talk about this. Together. You and I and no one else." Right now, he wasn't sure if he could be a father. Not now or ever, afraid that he'd turn into his father, and that scared the shit out of him. But with Bella, maybe things would turn out to be different. It was certainly something to discuss with her.

And yes, cross into couple territory. It wasn't as if they had a choice in the matter now.

* * *

A/N: Pssst... I posted chapter 1 of Pandore, the sequel to Sanctuaire!


	10. Chapter 10

He could understand her 'fuck it' attitude, but was it still really necessary? She had nothing to fear anymore, she was going to settle, surely she could move past the fact that she hadn't been able to do whatever she wanted for the last few years?

He had. Loads of people were against tight spaces and didn't like it when someone was being abused. Maybe it was soon for Bella. It had only been a day, really.

But still, the idea that she was thinking to get rid of the baby as if it was her decision. As if it was hers alone. It wasn't. It took two to tango, didn't it? He was just as responsible as she was, and they definitely needed to talk about it.

They were pretty much lost in their own thoughts when they walked to the house Bella had bought earlier that day. They were going to see what the damage was and to see what she needed to get done, but maybe it was a better idea to ask an adult. What did they know about houses and the state of it? He let out a whine. He didn't want to be the responsible one. Being responsible sucked.

The house looked okay from the outside, at least, and the moment Bella opened the door, he was inside with her, closing the door and pressing her against the wall as he kissed her.

Bella giggled as she put her arms around his neck and tiptoed to make things easier on him but now that she was in the house, she wanted to go exploring. It didn't look too dirty, just quite dusty, that was it. So far. "I want to see the house," she said between kisses, causing Isaac to lift her up and stumbled into the living room. Bella hummed as her back hit another wall, causing her to briefly stop kissing Isaac to look her around. "Nice and spacey," she said with a nod before tugging on his shirt. "Off."

Isaac grinned at her as he pushed her against the wall with her legs wrapped around her and let go of her before pulling off his shirt. He then helped her out of hers and kissed her again before taking her to the next room as her hands buried in his hair. Her nails dug into his scalp as he made a turn and bit his lip. He let out a low growl as he bumped her into a wall again. "You drew blood," he said as he looked at her. There was a big grin on her face as she wrestled herself out of his hold and jumped off of him, looking around the room. "Dining room."

Bella huffed as she kicked her shoes off and looked at him to do the same. "We'll get people to take the wall down and have a bigger living room."

"No playroom?" He smirked, causing her to kick one of her shoes at his head at the suggestion. "Adult playroom."

"No, a bigger living room so you can have all your friends over, and it won't feel crowded." She pulled him down to her level and kissed him eagerly, pushing him back into another room; the kitchen. "Ew!" she exclaimed in disgust as she pushed him away and looked around. "Are we in the dark ages? We're going to get a new kitchen."

"We are?"

"Yes." She pulled off her jeans and threw them in his face. "No way I'm cooking in this shit." Bella watched him hungrily as he got out of his jeans and didn't wait until he was done before pushing him over and sat down on top of him. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Nope," he grinned and kissed her greedily. He loved it how, just like him, embraced her new strength and agility and had fun with it, surprising herself most of the time when she tried something new. The look on her face was simply adorable.

"Good," she replied while she kept kissing him and ground her hips against his groin. "How many more rooms are in this house?"

"I dunno," he groaned as unhooked her bra. "Don't care right now…"

"I do," she said as she stopped kissing him and got up, helping him out of his jeans as she did. "Come on, next room."

"Bella!" He whined, but got to his feet anyway and followed her to what looked like a scullery. There was room for a washer and dryer and some shelf space for other things and a door to the outside. The room was big enough but quite small. The moment he set foot in there, she was on him again, jumping into his arms and nuzzling his ear.

Isaac stepped out of there again, bumping against the wall before turning and getting into another spacious room. He decided to skip it and found the stairs that lead to the first floor. "Up we go," he playfully squeezed her ass as he managed to take the stairs and not trip over his own feet. Luckily they didn't fall as she scraped her teeth on his collarbone while she dug her nails into his shoulder blade, surprising him. "Hey!"

"Hey," she smirked as she waited for the both of them to be upstairs and then let go of him again to look around on the landing. "Oh, I like this," she said as she shimmied out of her underwear and headed into the master bedroom. "Isaac! The bedroom! Look! It's beautiful!"

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down because fuck, she was such a tease, and he wanted to throw her on the floor and have his way with her. No, Isaac, he told himself, you do not throw a pregnant girl on the floor. She needs a bed.

A low growl coming from Bella pulled him out of his thoughts and followed her into the bedroom where she pounced on him. Her legs had wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck before her lips were on his again. All thoughts were gone out of the window as he could feel her wetness on him as her pert nipples pressed against his chest.

She had wanted to hold out some longer, for at least until they had been to all rooms. But his scent, something she was very much aware of now, had changed a little bit because of his arousal and it drove her wild. Bella wanted him in her, now. She didn't care how. She whined when she felt that he was still wearing his boxers and let go of him.

Isaac blinked when she just stared at him with her arms crossed over her chest. When he didn't get the clue, he followed her gaze down to his groin and grinned. "I'm not going to pull them off." He laughed when she kicked his legs from underneath him causing him to fall to the floor. She tore his boxers off of him and sat down on top of him, grinding her wetness against him as she raked her nails over his chest. "Bella."

"No," she said as she slid down his legs and sat on them to keep them where they were. She then took his length into her hand and gently squeezed it, causing him to buck his hips and hiss. With a grin, she pumped it a few times before shifting again and slowly lowering herself on top of him. "I so like this view," she smiled at him once he was fully inside of her, and she took a moment to get used to the feeling.

"Are you going to start moving anytime soon?"

She stuck out her tongue as she crossed her arms over her chest, cocking her head as she looked at him, daring him.

"Please stop being a tease," he groaned as he grabbed her hips and bucked against her.

"Or what?" She playfully rocked her hips, causing him to let out another groan. "You feel so good inside of me, I want to be like this forever," she teased as she rocked her hips again. "You're so big, and it feels so good…" she uncrossed her arms and gently placed them on his chest for support. "But sure, mr. Impatient…"

"Oh, I'm not the only one who's impatient," he laughed as he moved one of his hands to her clit and started to rub it. His action caused Bella to throw back her head and let out a moan. He allowed her to get used to the sensation but if she didn't start to move soon, he was going to roll them over and have his way with her.

He felt weirdly proud of being part of her sexual awakening. Was it pride? Definitely. Isaac loved it when she decided to discover new things on her own and her reaction when he tried something with her but this - waiting - was just too cruel. He could feel the heat radiating from her body, her heart was beating faster, and she felt incredibly wet around him. She was just as ready for this as he was.

She wasn't moving. She wasn't moving. Feeling slightly panicked, Isaac looked at her to see if she was freaking out or thinking about something but she wasn't. But she wasn't moving. He removed his hand from her and gently rolled the both of them over. Settling over her, he started to kiss her neck. "Get out of your head," he said with a murmur.

"I'm not," she replied as she sighed, biting her lip as she looked at him. Her cheeks flushed a deep red and eventually she found the courage to say what was on her mind. "I wasn't sure how to proceed next. I spaced out."

Isaac brushed her lips with his own and then kissed her tenderly. "You still want to do this?" He had known this was going to happen. She had had a lot to deal with in the last few days, and she was going to break eventually.

"Yes," she nodded almost as if she was a bobblehead doll. "I'm burning up. Please."

Okay, he thought to himself, definitely not broken. Just her adorable self, spacing out. "Just for future reference…" he said as he started to kiss her neck again while he found his way inside her again. "The way we were the other moment, think of it as riding a horse, although you do all the work instead of having it bounce you around like crazy."

Bella started to giggle uncontrollably at that remark. "I know that!"

"Good," he laughed as he started to move. "But I have to say, brain farts are cute."

Bella hummed a response as she dug her hands into his hair and pulled him down for a kiss. It didn't take the both of them to finish, Bella came hard, the world around her seemed to explode into tiny little stars that fell to Earth, burning in the atmosphere. It was a good thing that this house had thick walls. Not only was it quite werewolf proof, but they could also be as loud as they wanted to be without their neighbors having to listen to it.

When Isaac rolled off of her to catch his breath, she snuggled up against him on the floor and smirked. "I'd say this house is fully broken in."

o~0~o~0

After they had retrieved their clothes and made mental notes of what needed to be done in the house for Bella to like it, they went to the supermarket to buy treats and food to celebrate the fact that the house was bought. Much to Bella's surprise, Charlie was still at the Argent residence. "I thought you were going home?" Bella greeted him with a hug. "Are you staying?"

"For one night, yes. I was simply too fascinated by the things Chris had to tell me about your new life," Charlie replied as he scratched his head. "It's difficult to wrap my head around this, though."

"Yep, welcome to the party," she said with a grin before she helped Isaac bring the bags to the kitchen. "We bought food and drinks and I'm going to cook, we have something to celebrate."

"You're pregnant? Bella!" Charlie said with a whine. "I don't think I'm ready for puppies yet!"

Bella rolled her eyes at him and huffed. "No. I bought a house here in Beacon Hills. And it's awesome."

"Hence the dust trail we've left all over town," Isaac added. If she really wasn't going to talk about the fact that they were going to have a baby soon - because it looked like she had switched on the ignore button - then he wasn't going either. He was, however, going to make damn sure that everything was ready if needed. He was going to get a job and buy things for the baby, put things in storage and let Bella ignore it all. Definitely a plan.

"What? Why?"

"Dad, I'm not done with Isaac yet and he's not done with me. That's our agreement. We walk away when we're done. And he has his friends here. So I'm sticking around. And as much as I'm thankful for Mr. Argent's hospitality, I don't want to stay at his house. I want my own space."

"Well, if you're sure…"

"I'm not going back to Forks, but you can come here?" She said with a wolfish grin. "I'm sure Sheriff Stilinski could use the extra pair of hands!"

"I'll think about it. But you bought a house?"

"Uhuh," she nodded as she put things in the fridge. "That's the thing, I don't have to worry about money, so I bought a house. I'm going to hire people to make the house into something Isaac and I like, especially the kitchen, and then we'll move in."

"Would you like me to stick around to help you out a bit, Bells?"

She walked over to her father and put her arms around him. "You don't have to help out. We can be lazy because like I said; I'm going to hire people. But I'd like it if you stayed for a bit longer so we can explore this town together."

"I'd like that," Charlie smiled at her, putting his arms around his little girl who had not let go of him yet. "As long as your boyfriend won't mind."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"I'm not her boyfriend," Isaac said at the same time as he poured himself a drink. He needed to talk to Mr. Argent about Bella's situation; he could trust him and like Deaton, he'd shut his mouth about it. "I can't wait to taste Bella's cooking, let me get out of the way." He kissed the top of Bella's head and looked at Argent. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course," he said with a nod and led the teenager towards his office. Where he kept his guns. Not that he needed them for Isaac but still, the boy had a serious tone in his voice, and that required some alone time. He pointed to a chair as he sat down on his own. "What's up?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking," Isaac said with a deep sigh as he fell into the chair. "I mean, on the one hand, I'd like to finish school even though I detest it."

"Education is important."

"Yeah, but I could do night classes or just single courses too, right?"

"Of course."

"But, I'm also old enough not to return to school and never finish it."

Argent nodded again, confused as the boy tried to reason with someone, probably himself. "What are you getting at?" He observed Isaac as he tried to think of the question Chris had just asked him. It was almost as if he could see the cogs spinning in his head and he got fidgety. When Isaac didn't say anything - which was unusual, he spoke up again. "What happened at Deaton's?"

"Oh, well, he's fascinated by the tiny bit of Cold One venom in Bella's system, but other than that, she's perfectly healthy."

"That's a relief."

Isaac nodded, and Chris was surprised his head didn't fall off. "She's also pregnant."

He was quiet for a moment, unsure how to react when he saw the insecure Isaac in front of him. Of all the bravado and seemingly not caring about anything, he did have this insecure, naive side of him that rarely reared its head. "Wow. How do you feel about that?"

"Scared. Stupid. I mean… who screws a random girl without a condom?" Isaac huffed as he ran his hands through his hair. "Deaton said that something about us bonding during that night and shit like that that I can't even start to understand because she wasn't a werewolf then so how is that possible? And it's just… the fuck!"

"Technically, she was a werewolf, just spelled not to be one."

"Technicalities suck. How was I supposed to know and how the fuck did it happen that I bonded with her? She doesn't take it seriously. She's ignoring the fact that she's carrying a baby. She-" He took a deep breath and realized he had a drink on him, so he took a sip. He needed to calm down. "I mean…"

"I understand. This is all new for all of us, not just you and Bella. Did Deaton really say you bonded?"

"Mated, bonded, whatever. What the hell does that even mean? He said he needed to do more research because it's rare." Isaac used quotation marks when he said 'rare,' causing Argent to smile. "It's ridiculous."

"It is. And it's unheard of, it's just as rare as True Alpha's," Argent said calmly, not wanting to upset the young werewolf in his office. "A mate, what Bella is to you, according to Deaton, is something that goes far deeper than a simple girlfriend. Most werewolves feel lucky when they find a great woman or man who wants to stick with them for the rest of their lives, but it's not as if they're a mate. You two were drawn towards each other and the details are fuzzy for you, but you're in for a hell of a ride."

"I don't even know if I like her like that!"

"Yeah, you do," Chris smiled at him. "The way you're looking at her, the way you subconsciously move towards her when you feel she's threatened or sad… Did Deaton ask if you bit her?"

"No."

"Did you?"

Isaac let out a whine. "Not the first few times… but yeah. I bit her, once. By accident. On the shoulder."

"Yes, you're in deep, buddy."

"Can it be undone? I mean, she and I have an agreement. What if she doesn't want me anymore? What will happen then?"

"I'm not quite sure. Deaton's right in saying that what you and Bella have is rare, not much is known on the subject either, if there were, I would have known about it. But I think you can compare it to Swans. Swans mate for life. If their mate goes away or dies, the mate left behind is miserable. Some even die of heartbreak."

"I don't want that, can we be fixed?"

"Isaac… You didn't hear me."

"Yeah, I heard you! But I'd rather be aware of my actions and whatnot than to be at the mercy of this thing between her and me!" Isaac said angrily, pounding his fist on the heavy table, not even denting it. "I don't want things being able to control me when I don't want to."

"You sound a lot like Bella now."

"Yeah well, she's right. It's much easier to be in control over yourself when you have it."

"Or," he said calmly as he kept looking at him. "You could learn how to control it, learn how to work with it instead of seeing it as something beyond your control. Anything can be learned."

"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I think I want to find a job so I can work on the baby's nursery in secret. I know she has money, but she'd rather get rid of it or ignore it until it's actually here. At least for the moment. That's my real dilemma right now; go back to school, finish it, or find a job."

"It's likely you need an education to work."

Isaac shrugged. "My dad worked at the graveyard; I used to have a job there, so… maybe they'll take me back."

"Isaac…" he sighed.

"No, I want to do something. I don't want to be a kept boy. I know she has money. But I want to be responsible, and actually you know… take care of her."

"Alright," the man nodded. "Seems you have it all thought out already, why do you need me?"

"I don't know. Maybe you'd say something I would actually like or hadn't thought of," Isaac sulked as he emptied his glass and got to his feet. "But seems like I'm not as brain damaged as I thought."

He got to his feet and rounded the desk before gently giving Isaac a pat on the back. "You're a smart kid, you'll know what's best for you, your girlfriend and the rest of your life."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"And I'm certain you two will make the right decision about the baby. Bella has a good set of brains on her shoulders, just like you."

"It's just scary."

"Isaac, you know this. Women are scary. New situations are scary at first, but you'll deal with it. I have every faith that you two can deal with the new situation at hand. Together."

"Even when she ignores the things in front of her?"

"Yes," he smiled reassuringly. "Don't forget, she's had a lot to deal with in the last few days. Give her some time to process."

Isaac nodded and sighed. "Thanks. I just… it's…"

"It's called growing up. Maybe a little bit faster than you've anticipated, but you're on the right path. We're all here to lend you a hand if needed. Don't worry, we've got your back, Isaac," he gently squeezed Isaac's shoulder. "Now, let's see what that Bella of yours is up to because whatever she's doing, it smells delicious."


	11. Chapter 11

A couple of weeks later, Bella was sitting on the steps to her house, waiting for the contractors to arrive to deal with the changes she wanted to be made. She was all alone, had been for a few weeks now. Her father had left after a couple of days, he insisted on inspecting the house and make his own observations and he came with good suggestions, not all of them she was going to listen to, but some. To make him happy. It took some arranging of agendas and planners for the contractors go come and she was glad everything finally worked out.

She didn't understand why Isaac went to get his old job back at the cemetery. While she understood that he didn't want to go back to school, he didn't need a job. She had plenty of money. Hell, she even offered to split the remaining money in half but he didn't want it. She didn't want the money either. It was far too much for one person, especially if they weren't going to travel around the globe - she quite liked it in Beacon Hills so far. No, Isaac wanted to earn money and do something with it. Some sort of secret project he had been mumbling about in his sleep. Bella was sure that one of these nights, she'd get to hear what this secret project was.

Scott and everyone else were back in school until their next break which wouldn't be until Christmas and even though Chris Argent didn't mind her staying at his house during the day, she had started to feel a little bit useless and had left the house. It was a good thing that the workers were coming today so she could at least do something even if it was just to open the door.

Yes, it had started to become slightly colder now that Autumn was here, but it was still California and she loved it. No thick jackets or starting to wrap herself up in thick layers of clothing, just a simple cardigan would do and she loved it.

When she saw movement down the street, she looked up from her styrofoam cup of tea and sighed when she saw that it was Peter. She didn't know him that well, not as well as some of Isaac's friends, but she thought he was entertaining. He was there in Derek's loft at her first full moon and hadn't given her shit yet so he wasn't on the 'meh' list so far. He seemed to move a little bit awkwardly, almost as if he was in pain. Had something happened? "Morning," she greeted him.

"Oh good, you left out the 'good'," Peter sighed as he sat down next to her on the steps. "Nice house."

"Uhuh. What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's not a good morning and you move stupidly. Did you fall down the stairs?"

Peter let out a low growl and absentmindedly rubbed his chest. "Some idiot with no mouth broke into the loft and threw an icepick at me. He left me for dead."

"You're not."

"Obviously not." He waved to the house, changing the subject. "Did you buy it with my money?"

A couple of days ago, someone broke into the Hale vault and stole Peter's money. He'd been on a warpath since, and Bella had been fortunate to have been left out of the war zone. Until now. At least he wasn't snarling at her, she'd snarl right back at him. "No. Why do you think that?" Bella asked as she took a sip of her tea.

"You're the most recent thing coming into Beacon Hills. Not much is known about you other than you're a special werewolf and that you tend to hang with the wrong people."

"Oh," she smiled at him and grinned. "I'm a suspect? That's so cool!" She turned a little to face him with a big smile on her face. "You think I stole your money? Because I bought a house?"

"Amongst other things."

"I have my own money. I've earned it for being the human pet of a bunch of vampires," Bella said morosely as she looked at Peter. She then giggled as she saw the look on his face. "I get it why you think I have something to do with it but seriously? I'm like the person who's the least needy for money."

"Fine," Peter sighed and dismissively waved his hand. "What about that boy of yours?"

"He's a puppy."

"Yeah… he doesn't really have the mind of a criminal mastermind."

"Hey! Give him some credit, will you?" Bella laughed as she nearly inhaled her sip of tea. "Did you tell Derek?"

"Oh! About that," Peter groaned as he got to his feet when the vans of the construction crew showed up. "He's hired someone to find the person responsible for the heist. Her name is Braeden. Isaac knows her. Don't tell him she's back in town."

"Why not?" Bella cocked her head, feeling worried and possessive for a moment as she watched Peter take his leave, hearing him quietly snicker as he walked off. "Asshole!" Yeah, she didn't have anything to worry about. Isaac was hers.

She hung around for a little while to make sure that the contractors indeed knew what they were doing and headed into town when she was satisfied. There was no need to stick around, really. There wasn't anything to steal in that house and she had other things to do; such as getting a Nutella pancake. Or get the ingredients, go to Argent's place and make Nutella pancakes. She was sure that the smell would wake up Isaac and when he was awake, they could have sex.

No, that was too selfish. She could go for a nap herself. Just curl up next to him and doze off. No, that would be stupid. Or maybe not, seeing as it was the full moon again tonight and she'd probably be up all night because Scott wanted to keep an eye on her. She scoffed as she kicked a small pebble on the street. She was fine. It was the new kid that Scott bit that he needed to worry about.

While she had tried to stay away from Scott and his friends as well as she could, Isaac still hung out with them somewhat, after school and staying in the loop of supernatural happenings. She wasn't interested in that, not even when Isaac mentioned that morning that Scott bit someone to save him from a killer with no mouth.

When Peter had mentioned the guy earlier, she didn't bat an eye. It wasn't really her thing to get involved, was it? She felt bad about it, sure, but she had her house to think about. Her own nest. The excitement of the house finally being remodeled made her nauseous at times, but that was great. A house. For her. And Isaac.

While she and Isaac had been ordering things online for the house, she couldn't help but window shop a little. She had liked the way her room looked in Forks, the fairy lights, for example. Done right and it was romantic. She definitely wanted to have them again. Maybe not in the bedroom, seeing as she was going to share it with Isaac. She had called him stupid for not wanting to be involved in the decorating of the house. It was his house just as it was hers. When she said that he could have the house when she was tired of him, he got angry and possessive about her and fucked her senseless after dragging her out of Argent's house and into the woods behind it. It was very hot.

She ducked into the store and bought fairy lights in all sorts of colors before heading to the supermarket and get some snacks for everyone. If she was going to have to suffer through another full moon of Scott keeping an eye on her, she wanted to have the good stuff to keep her entertained. Taking a nap right now sounded great.

~o0o~

Bella wasn't sure why the lights were off in the lake house for when Liam arrived, but it wasn't as if they needed the light to see anyway. Being a werewolf had its perks; extra sight and all that. She was sitting on the sofa, all cozied up to Isaac when the boy arrived and Stiles said it was some sort of intervention. The look on Liam's face, when things were explained to him, was hilarious, especially when he asked Stiles what he was. "For a little while I was possessed by an evil spirit. He was very evil."

Bella liked Stiles. He was the only human in Scott's pack, but his wit and sarcasm fit right in.

"What are you now?" Liam asked, slightly irritated by Stiles' remark.

"Better?"

Liam's frown turned even more sour before his eyes fell upon her and Isaac. "Werewolf and a werewolf with vampire venom in her blood? How does that work?"

Bella shrugged for an answer, not wanting to poke the bear. Liam was angry enough. He had a lot to deal with, just like Bella had to do, but considering Liam's life had been pretty decent apart from his bursts of anger while growing up, everything must be quite a shock. She listened to the conversation a little while drawing little circles with her index finger over Isaac's shirt and had to laugh when Liam called them all psychotic nutjobs.

The boy was this close to losing it, the room had started to feel tense and Bella had to admit, when Liam started to double over from sensory overload, she scooted even closer to Isaac before noticing that there were cars coming. What the fuck? They were supposed to be all alone at the Lake House, who invited more people? This was a clusterfuck waiting to happen.

While Scott and Kira carted Liam off to the boathouse - great, open space, Bella thought that was a bad idea - Malia showed that she still hadn't learned to control herself and Stiles brought her to the basement. "How are you feeling, Bella?" Isaac asked her softly as he caressed her hair. "In control?"

"Of course," she replied with a nod. "And horny."

Isaac chuckled at that. "In the mood for a party?"

"Hell no."

"I think Scott needs help with Liam."

"Yeah, he might need an extra pair of hands…"

"Then again… Scott has a fox with him. Stiles is all alone."

"Let's just go home," Bella sighed as she nuzzled his earlobe. The living room started to fill with partying teenagers and she didn't want to stick around.

"But Scott-"

"He's a big boy," Bella smiled at him. She had realized a week ago that there wasn't really a spot anymore for Isaac in Scott's pack, especially not for Bella despite her somewhat accepting him as an Alpha. They were on the outside, looking in. More like floaters, like a turd in water. Or whatever. "You can ask him if he needs us? But we're basically here because he didn't trust my control. Thinking it was a fluke." She was waiting for Isaac to realize her thoughts about Scott's pack too, but the boy was so happy to be back in Beacon Hills that it was going to take some time. It wasn't as if they couldn't be friends anymore, they just lead different lives now.

"It obviously isn't."

"Obviously," Bella whined as someone sat down next to her. "Go ask. Tell him we're leaving if he doesn't need us."

~o0o~

She thought it was sweet of Isaac to watch his friends play a Lacrosse game a few days later, and that he felt saddened that he wasn't playing anymore. Maybe, just maybe, Isaac had made the wrong decision of going to work instead of finishing school, but he told her he didn't regret anything. It was sweet of him of not telling her when he was hanging out with his friends, but she knew. He'd leave for work early during the day and in the morning she'd find torn or dirty clothes and she didn't say anything about it.

Bella wanted to, she was slightly worried that he had become interested in another girl and that there would come an end to their agreement, but she also knew that she could trust him. He had missed them and he wanted to spend more time with his friends, helping them out, especially with Liam.

Since she didn't have anything to do - apart from making sure the house would turn out okay - she wanted to help too, but Isaac told her she didn't have to, that she should enjoy exploring Beacon Hills and Beacon County without having to worry about everything. It was only after the CDC closed down the high school that she learned what was going on.

Mostly because one night, Stiles was in Argent's weapon's locker and she overheard them while Isaac was out helping Scott. Talking about a dead pool of supernaturals in Beacon Hills, that there had been many casualties and that so far, Scott and his pack had been safe but that they were now going to try to catch the elusive leader of the dead pool. The plan sounded ridiculous and probably wouldn't work. Of course, when she was about to leave and see if she could help - anywhere, her stomach decided to twist itself into a knot and she had to throw up.

She was sick of being sick. There wasn't a day going by where she didn't throw up and it was a bug she didn't seem to be able to shake. It threw a wrench in most of her plans because she usually felt so drained after throwing up, that she wanted to take a nap or move very slowly. Or stuff her face with food but she was afraid that if she ate too soon after expelling it from her body, she'd have to do it again.

In all honesty, Bella felt like a miserable old hag and she was glad that Isaac wasn't around much because she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want him to leave her because she was grumpy and sick, and sometimes crying because she felt miserable without being able to stop it. It felt like PMS, but worse.

The next morning, she realized Isaac hadn't come home and even though she didn't want to act like the controlling girlfriend - because she wasn't his girlfriend - she tried his phone a few times and didn't get any answer. She called Scott, but he was too busy and he immediately told her that everyone else was busy as well but assured her that Isaac was a creature of habit and wouldn't just run away on her. That didn't help her much, it only helped to grow her agitation. She got dressed and cursed her jeans for not fitting properly anymore and ripped a little of the sides to help her get in.

She grabbed a banana off the kitchen counter before heading towards the house that was still being remodeled, maybe Isaac was there, working on his secret project or whatever and had fallen asleep. She was humming to herself when out of nowhere, Peter stepped in her path. "Morning!" He greeted her as he stopped her from walking. "Did you hear about the dead pool?"

"Yeah, yesterday."

"Only yesterday?" Peter blinked and slowly shook his head while making a disapproving noise. "Why didn't they tell you before?"

"Because what can I do? Vomit all over the list or the killers?" Bella stepped around him and continued to walk towards the house. "I don't know, maybe, deep down, Scott doesn't trust me. Isaac's been helping him, I know that, but other than that?"

"You're still angry with Scott?"

"Yes," Bella kicked against a rock and heard it shatter a window somewhere. "Werewolves should do what they're supposed to do; kill when able or necessary. Killing the Cullens was necessary and he let a few of them walk."

"I don't want to play Devil's advocate but…"

"What? There are enough of them left to find a new family, make a new family, and try it with a new girl all over again. How's that not a big enough of a threat?"

Peter shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets. "I would have killed them."

"Exactly. But Scott thinks that everyone, including bad people, should have a chance to redeem themselves."

"Yes, which is mostly the reason why I'm still here," Peter said with a grin. "Because of my redeeming qualities and Scott's inability to kill."

"I think he's able, he just doesn't like to do it."

"He has me and Derek for that."

"Apparently," she kept walking towards the house, but already knew it was going to be a bust. She didn't smell Isaac at all and hadn't found a new trail since leaving the house. She could follow his scent to his job and the supermarket if she wanted to, but it was his day off today. And last night he went to help Scott. "Did you see Isaac last night?"

"I'm afraid not. I was doing some bonding with the daughter I didn't know I had."

"Malia?"

"You know?"

Bella shrugged for an answer. "It's easy to tell, really. Same bone structure, the forehead…"

"Daughter of a cop."

"Yep," she grinned as she frowned. There weren't any vans outside the house while normally there were and she didn't receive a call that they weren't going to come today. "This is odd…"

"Trouble?" Peter asked, looking at the young werewolf.

Bella huffed as she opened the door. "Of course not, who would want to go after me?" She got a fright when she saw Aro standing in the living room, accompanied by Jane and Alice. Out of instinct, she pulled Peter closer to her so that Jane couldn't hurt him and Alice couldn't read him. "The fuck!" she exclaimed as she looked at the threesome. Usually, Marcus and Caius weren't far behind where Aro was concerned, but they were probably with Felix and his buddies to be protected somewhere close by. "Get out of my house!"

"Come now, Bella, is that the way you treat old friends?" Aro smiled at her and opened his arms wide, almost as if he wanted her to hug him. She simply stared at him, trying to control her breathing as not to turn into a wolf. While the walls were probably werewolf-proof, she was certain that they weren't Cold One proof and she didn't want the house to come down upon them. "I guess it is," Aro said simply, clasping his hands in front of him again. "You probably want to know what we're doing here."

"You want to kill me."

"Hardly," Aro replied as he nodded towards Alice. "When Alice and Jasper came before us, confessing what they had done to you and why, I could not believe them. Not even after reading their thoughts. Young Bella Swan, the golden boy's savior, a werewolf? And killing Cullens? It's simply unheard of! And what will young Isaac think of you being with this man?"

Bella blinked at that, looking at Alice for answers, but she wasn't talking, only looking to the floor as she stood there. Jane was concentrating, hard, Bella could see that, but as long as Peter stayed with Bella, he was safe, and that was probably very frustrating for her. Her eyes fell back onto Aro's face and she let out a snarl. "What did you do?"

"Oh, no harm has come to the young werewolf," Aro smirked. "But please, allow us to take you to him. You can leave your friend here."

"In exchange for what?"

"We'll discuss the terms in a more… suitable environment. We brought our wives with us as well, let's have a civil lunch together."

"Bella, don't," Peter warned her and she looked up to him.

"They have Isaac. I'm not going to allow them to take away my toys."

"How many of them are there?"

"Probably a few. But don't worry, they know they'll lose the fight. Nothing will happen. Go home, Peter."

"No."

"Go home."

"No, not up for discussion."

Growling, Bella shoved him away from her, out of her bubble, giving Jane the opportunity to hurt him, quite bad. "Don't kill him," Bella said to Jane as she motioned for Aro to lead the way. "Or I will kill you."


	12. Chapter 12

Believing what he heard when Jasper and Alice Cullen told their story about the human girl Bella? Absolutely not. They would have known that there was something more to the girl other than her shield ability. Not even when he read it straight from their minds, was he convinced that this girl was something to be feared.

Werewolves were easy to be dealt with. Of course, they were a big pain in the ass, but with careful planning and the strongest fighters, Aro had won many a battle with werewolves.

Aro was angry with the two Cullens for allowing the girl to slip away from them in the first place, breaking their word on turning the girl. He had already thought about to send out some of his guards to find Bella when he first learned of her betrayal, but had been unable to find her. Now that she seemed to be stationary, for now, it gave him the perfect opportunity to get the girl. Dead or alive. Preferably alive, her shielding ability could come in handy one day.

But first, he needed to know what they were going to be up against, to formulate a plan and make sure it was airtight. No one ever won a battle without careful planning. With Bella seemingly under the impression that the Volturi were going to leave her alone, it was going to be easy. He sent one of their most recent acquirements, an excellent tracker and able to stick to the shadows called Joshua, to get all the information they needed. Joshua was able to cover up his tracks very well, even, for some reason, suppress the sun's effect on his skin for short periods of time.

Where did Bella live? Did she have friends? Who were they? Where did she frequent? Did her friends like her? And, most of all, was it going to be easy to extract her and take her to Italy?

Weeks later, the plan was almost ready, but when Aro learnt of the supernatural dead pool, he began to question Bella's safety in this Beacon Hills, California and instructed Joshua to keep her safe, no matter what. Her name was on the list, as was the one of the boy she seemed to hang around with and had bought a house with. Aro didn't care much about her friends, but she was not to be harmed by anyone.

No, the harming would be his, and only his.

Marcus attended Aro to Bella's temper, that it would be even worse now that she was a werewolf and that maybe Jasper's abilities weren't enough. Would they even work on her? Not according to Jasper and Alice, but then again, they had promised the girl to leave her alone and they would do anything in their power to deceive him. Corin did a great job in making the two Cullens content in their current situation as she did with his and Caius' wife, but that didn't mean that they couldn't lie. According to Joshua, some of the venom of a nomad vampire had been absorbed into her circulation and it seemed to work differently.

Joshua's extensive research showed that the mental institution called Eichen House was the best way to subdue a werewolf due to its supernatural wards. Something about it having Mountain Ash all over the building, through the walls and everywhere else, and that upon entering, Joshua felt weakened. With the right amount of money, he had been able to bribe the director to clear an entire floor for them. Joshua declined any offer to make the floor even further supernatural proof, as they'd only need someone weakened enough to access them, not to completely subdue them.

While Aro didn't like the idea that he, too, would be weakened by the effects of the Mountain Ash, he wanted to be certain that they would have access to Bella without her shield being in the way. Weakened was an entire different entity than cancelled out. The supernatural ward that Joshua had informed him of was too much. Overkill. Surely, Bella wouldn't be too strong for them? Maybe have some Mountain Ash ready to put her in a circle.

Since they wanted Corin to come with them, it also meant that his wife and Caius' wife had to come with or they'd go insane without her. Jasper and Alice were more under control with Corin's touch as well, so they were packing up the entire family and would go on a road trip! Aro was strangely excited for this, it brought a lot of headaches with it, such as making sure that there were enough guards with them to travel and keep them safe, but the joy of doing this with the entire family was simply the best.

Now, he was furious that both Alice and Joshua had neglected to tell him that Bella was with child. It was painfully obvious when she walked into her own house, the hormones around her wafting around like a warm, cuddly blanket. If Aro had ovaries, surely they would rattle by now. However, while babies were the cutest thing on the planet apart from puppies, Bella being pregnant was another hitch in the plan.

On their way towards Eichen House in the mostly sunless morning, Joshua told him that he didn't know. That it was something Bella refused to believe in, how was he to know that she was pregnant?

Bella was already under the influence of Corin, who waited for them down the road. She had given Alice another dose of her happy contentment and Bella was chatting away with Alice, like old friends, as if nothing had happened between them. That's why Aro liked Corin so much, she did her job very well.

"You look good, Bella," Alice put her arm around the girl and smiled at her. "I told you, you were going to have a great future!"

"Still not too sure about that, Isaac thinks his friends still need him," Bella sighed as she put her head against Alice's arm. "But he has such a different life at the moment, more like… looking in from the outside. That can't be a nice feeling."

"Maybe he's used to that feeling, have you given that a thought? Anyway," Alice gently put her hand on Bella's stomach. "Congratulations!"

"With what?"

"Your pregnancy?"

"Oh, that," Bella sighed as she looked down on herself and swatted Alice's hand away. "I'm sick, that's all. Everyone keeps telling me I'm pregnant and stuff like that, but I can't be. Isaac and I aren't a couple and we both are still too much having fun." Why were people continuously talking about her being pregnant? Wasn't hearing it once enough? When was it going to go away? Of course, pretending she was sick wasn't making it go away either, and it was that Isaac had asked her not to get rid of it that it was still there, but that didn't have to mean she'd have to like it, right?

Aro frowned as he overheard the conversation, deliberately, almost as if Corin had used her extra influence on Bella to get the details right. Clever woman. If Bella truly didn't want the baby, then there were more options. He could help her get rid of it. Or at least have it born and adopted. Yes, and then the girl in his guard. A werewolf. One who could walk in the sun. Smiling, he couldn't wait to get to Eichen House to work with her.

Corin told him that she was easier to influence than she had expected, the shield that Bella had around her was virtually non-existent, maybe only for impact related issues, but the mental component was gone. She sensed it being around her stomach, which made Aro's mood turn sour. There wasn't a way to get rid of the kid then. He was just going to have to be patient.

On the way to the mental hospital, Corin had to influence Bella a few more times as it didn't seem to stick for a long time on her, it was almost as if she was fighting it, but if she didn't know what was going on, how did she know she had to fight it? She was good at what she did, sure, but she had never met a being who shrugged off her influence like that.

She instilled a little bit of excitement and happiness into the girl as they arrived on the floor that was secured for them. Maybe a little too much. The girl let out a high-pitched noise, oblivious to her surroundings but had zeroed in on her mate. Almost like a bee to honey she was drawn to him in an instant and leaped in his arms to kiss him.

"Well," Marcus remarked as he sat in his chair. "I suppose it doesn't have to take me to figure out how deep their relationship goes."

~o0o~

Bella felt incredible. She had felt incredible the moment they turned round the corner to go to wherever Aro was taking her. It felt as if she was on a controlled rollercoaster; she would feel great and then plummet down to Earth but before she could react, she was back on her high again. She wasn't even quite sure what she was doing, other than to walk and talk to Alice.

Wasn't she supposed to hate Alice?

Wasn't she supposed to rip the Volturi apart?

Just as her anger started to bubble up again, she was feeling alright again. Happy. Content. There wasn't anything she could do about it and it was weird. She realized that it was probably a pregnancy thing. Mood swings. Jasper wasn't anywhere in sight, he couldn't influence her. On top of that, she had a shield that protected her from meddling. She wasn't aware that it was on the fritz. Maybe it was. Wasn't pregnancy supposed to do shit like that? Mess with your body?

And where did those thoughts about being pregnant come from? She was sick. And it would go away.

It was almost as if the happy thoughts wanted to pull her out of her head and it worked, sporadically. However, entering Eichen House - wasn't that the nut house? - she felt how her spirit got dulled and felt her legs grow a little heavy as if she was trying to wade through mud. As if her special corner of her mind was getting locked off for some reason. When she laid eyes upon Isaac, however, her heart filled with so much happiness that everything else around her disappeared and jumped in his arms. "I've missed you! I was so worried!"

"I'm alright," Isaac said after she stopped kissing him. "Your friends told me you were in danger, I'm glad that they managed to get to you."

Her friends. Yes! She smiled at Aro, Marcus and Caius before seeing Jasper and blinked. She let go of Isaac and walked over to him. "Jazz!" She bearhugged him.

"Bella," he said with a wince. "You don't know your own strength," he said when she let go of him eventually. He didn't like seeing her like this. Corin was much stronger than he was and better at planting emotions in someone's head while he could effect an entire room. Corin was struggling with Bella though, he could see that, and nudged Bella's mind into submission. "I believe Aro wanted to have lunch with you." He was surprised that it was easy this time to influence Bella. Due to her shield, he had always refrained from influencing her unless Edward asked him to. He should have done that on their wedding day, maybe then he wouldn't be in so much trouble with Aro right now.

"I'm famished," she said with a nod before walking back over to Isaac. "I thought you were helping Scott."

"I was, but when I was at work, your friend Jasper told me to come with him for your safety."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Come, let's have lunch and discuss things like the civil people we all are," Aro said, revealing a table filled with food. "I promise you, it's safe for everyone."

"Come," Corin said as she wedged herself between Isaac and Bella and put her arms around them. "Aro has assured you have food, feel grateful."

"Oh, but I am," Bella said as she allowed herself to be lead towards the table. "Very. And also very grateful towards every single one of you wanting to keep us safe from the dead pool."

"Me too, but I already said that," Isaac replied as he helped Bella sit down on her chair. "Although I also said we're not that valuable and they wouldn't go after us."

"Oh, but on the contrary," Marcus said as he, too, sat down on a chair at the table. "She's most valuable to us, and that makes you valuable too."

"Cool, valuable by association," Isaac smirked at Bella.

Bella blinked at Marcus' choice of words. He wasn't referring to the dead pool, was he?

"Eat," Aro smiled as he pointed at the food. "I'm curious to what you've become, Bella, maybe after lunch, we can do some tests on you, yes?"

"Sure," she muttered as she gratefully grabbed a piece of toast and started to nibble on it. No, not good. "This toast is delicious." No, it's not. It's dry as fuck.

"What kind of tests?" Isaac wondered. "Because you can do them on me so she doesn't have to do them."

"Oh, nothing too intrusive, I promise you," Aro replied as he watched the two werewolves eat. "And yes, we could do them on you if you had our kind's venom in your body."

"Oh, yeah," Isaac sighed, feeling a little depressed. "That's her alright."

Bella let out a giggle and brushed his leg upwards to his groin. "You're special to me," she gently squeezed his upper leg. "That's what's important."

Isaac smiled goofily at her and put another piece of toast on her plate. "Minx."

After lunch Bella allowed one of the wives - she didn't know whose or what their names were, she didn't even know the Volturi had wives - to take blood from her with a syringe they had gotten from the medical staff of Eichen House. She didn't want to, but she felt somehow compelled to do so; as a thank you for them keeping her and Isaac safe from the dead pool or something. She then curled up on the floor where Isaac was sitting against the wall and put her head in his lap for a nap. Napping was good.

~o0o~

It was a good thing the Volturi were afraid. Afraid to get caught or afraid that Bella would rip them to shreds. They only woke her up for food and some questions while they had Isaac show them what werewolves could do. Even with the building weakening him, Isaac took apart Felix as if he was a shred of paper - of course, when no one was watching him, Jasper had nudged Isaac a little bit with a sense of urgency to make sure he fought hard. Jasper wouldn't want for Bella to lose her mate.

It was a good thing that he was good at pretending, and that Corin's ability wasn't quite working on him due to its closeness to his own. Sure, Jasper felt as if he was walking through mud when moving, but Corin couldn't stop him from retreating in his own mind and form an opinion when it wasn't supposed to happen.

He saw the same thing happening to Bella, although she easily slipped as well. Fighting against Corin's influence was exactly what she needed to do to make sure that she and her mate would survive this. Aro was still thinking about either keeping her or discarding her. Insecurity sucked, but until Aro and the other Volturi had come to an agreement, he was going to play along.

On day two of their stay at Eichen House, a gunshot was heard from a few levels below and he was sent to check it out - what if they were going to get Bella and Isaac? Aro didn't want that to happen! As it turned out, one of the orderlies got shot while going after two teenagers and the benefactor; the one running the dead pool was discovered. Only, for the teenagers, for it to be a letdown seeing as the benefactor was a crazy woman.

He remained quiet and observant as the teens were shipped off to the hospital and the woman was placed under arrest. The scent of fresh human blood was enticing; reminding him of the fact that he hadn't fed in days. He should feed. Hell, everyone should feed but apart from the Volturi and their wives - and Corin - nobody was allowed to feed. Maybe returning with the information he had just learned would give Aro cause to reward him as a good little pet.

When he returned, however, he had to do his absolute best to stay neutral and not to freak out when he saw that Bella's arm was bleeding. He'd smelled her from outside the door but thought he could handle it. He couldn't. He wanted to feed. He wanted to feed on her. Just a taste, a tiny sip, it couldn't do any harm. He'd been fine when the boy was bleeding, but Bella?

The moment he decided he was going to lick the blood off her arm, Alice told him off and the boy shoved Jasper across the room with little to no effort.

"Corin, be a dear and control those two," Aro said with a singsong voice before motioning Jane to come closer while he observed the healing process on Bella's arm. The mountain ash in the building made it harder for her to heal, but he also knew it had to do something with the extra mountain ash that he laced the blade with that he used to cut her. It had been fascinating. Two days under his control and in this building and Bella was as weak as putty. Ready to be molded. There was only one more test; Jane.

Well, and Felix, but Aro already knew that as of right now, the girl would lose to him.

It was fascinating how easy she'd been manipulated into submission, maybe Corin's constant influence of her while she was asleep was finally paying off. According to Alice, Bella wasn't making any attempts or decisions about leaving. She was with her head on Cloud Nine because of the baby growing inside of her. Aro was going to delight in having her get it born and then have it adopted. The pain and misery the girl was going to be in was going to add so much fire inside of her, it was going to be fantastic. His best bodyguard.

The best thing about hiding out in a working mental hospital was that screaming was normal, so if Bella would scream, it wouldn't draw so much attention to them. Every test they'd performed on Bella showed that her shield was gone or at least failing.

Grinning when Bella writhed in agony, Jane felt incredibly happy that she was finally able to hurt the girl. She had tried before, but Aro had been right, her shield was not there. She looked over to Bella's toy and smirked as he just had a confused look on his face. Simply because she could, she had him on the floor within seconds. Sighing happily, she smiled up to Aro. "I think she's ready."

"Excellent," Aro replied as he sat down in his chair and looked over to Marcus. "You can go ahead with planning our trip back to Volterra."


	13. Chapter 13

Her bones were aching and her head felt as if it was about to explode. If she didn't know any better, she had experienced the best party ever and was now incredibly hungover. Bella had stayed down, with her head in Isaac's lap, overviewing the entire room while she pretended to be whatever they wanted her to be.

It had been two days since Jane started to hurt her, and today it was going to end. Bella was going to end Jane even if that meant she was going to break down the entire building. It had also been two days since Jasper told her to keep fighting, he believed she was mentally strong enough to beat Corin, and he promised her he'd keep giving her waking nudges here and there if able.

And for the first time since she got here, she felt strong enough to push through her influence. All she needed now, was a plan. She'd been stupid when she voluntarily went with Aro, but he had Isaac. And Peter was with her so he had to leave. Aro was not going to take away her Isaac from her, her baby was going to need a father.

While she had hated Corin's meddling with her mind; it was almost as if she'd been in a fog and happy and stuff like that, it did made her realize that the thing that was growing inside of her was worth loving and exploring. Worth protecting. Worth getting out of this mess for.

It didn't look like Scott and anyone else was looking for them; it was what Bella had expected. They were simply too busy with their own problems, the dead pool for one, and Bella and Isaac were insignificant. But if Isaac didn't snap out of this, she was going to have to do this on her own.

She had tried to get her shield to expand again, she had noticed that it had collapsed in on itself and protected the baby, but it wasn't budging. Probably because of the anxiety that was coursing through her veins. Anxiety and anger. Rage. Not the fluffy feelings that she should be feeling but at least the negative emotions kept her vomiting at bay. But without her shield expanding so she could shield Isaac from Corin, she was on her own. All she could hope for was that Jasper was still on her side and Alice wasn't paying attention to her.

Bella let out a sigh of contentment as she shifted a little to get a little bit more comfortable. Now that she was fully aware of her body, she noticed how everything ached and how slow it took for broken bones to heal. It wasn't as bad as she expected, but it still sucked. Everything was fixed, it just needed the little push to get back to full mobility. Letting out a low growl and shifted her hand that was underneath Isaac's legs, she felt how she forced her body to get indeed that final push.

It just sucked that vampires had such great hearing.

"Good morning, Bella," Corin greeted her warmly and Bella could feel how the vampire was trying to influence her, making her content in her situation, but it wouldn't take. She wasn't sure if Corin noticed. "We have a problem," Corin turned to Aro. "She's resisting."

"Impossible."

Corin really shouldn't have gotten close to Bella. She inelegantly sat up while Corin was trying to invade her mind. Bella concentrated hard to force her out while she grabbed the vampire and pulled her down to her level before starting to try to separate her head from her body. Much to Bella's surprise, it was Isaac who pulled Bella off of the vampire and she didn't like it at all. "What the fuck are you doing, Bella?" He was holding her tight and she was trying to get out of his arms. "They've been nothing but nice to us, keeping us safe and you want to repay them with killing one of them?"

Bella let out a growl as she glared at Corin and then at Aro, who was looking at her with an interested look on his face. She stopped struggling in Isaac's arms and crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn't blame Isaac, he was still under Corin's influence, but he wouldn't have been if she'd been able to kill Corin.

She was weaker than she had felt in the forest, this was because of the Mountain Ash in Eichen House's foundations and she had to be stronger. She had to be able to rip off Corin's head for the both of them to have a chance of survival.

"Calm down, Bella," Jasper spoke calmly as he put his hand on her shoulder, but not trying to change anything. It had been a good attempt, she had to fight harder. Her boytoy was useless and Alice had already foreseen that Bella was capable of much more. Of being much more. He gently squeezed her shoulder and she relaxed, he hoped that Aro was only amused by her being able to deflect Corin's gift and that he wouldn't kill her. It hadn't been the plan. Aro wanted Bella for himself.

"Well well," Aro got to his feet and approached Bella. Without warning, he grabbed her by her neck and lifted her off the floor almost as if she was a doll, ready to be played with. "What are we going to do with you now? Corin was supposed to keep you quiet until nightfall, but if you are fighting her… we'll have to think of something else."

"Let go of me," she tried pushing off of him, but his hand was like a vice around her neck and only held her tighter as she struggled. She managed to put her feet against Aro's chest and concentrated as she pushed herself away from him, landing on the ground with ease. She was surprised to see that Aro was armless and blinked when something seemed to dangle from her neck. Smirking, she realized that it was his arm and pried the fingers off of her neck. "I think you've lost something."

Had he seen her eyes flash a deep red when she was trying to kick herself off? Surely not, but she seemed to be getting stronger by the minute, almost as if her body had adjusted to the Mountain Ash that surrounded them. He cursed himself quietly; they should have taken over the supernatural wing, but then again, _they_ wouldn't even be able to do a thing.

With a scowl, Aro dismissed Felix and Jane, who had been eager to deal with Bella their own way and snatched his arm back from the young werewolf. It hurt like hell, but it'd heal.

Time for plan B. He grabbed a vial out of his pocket with his good working arm after pressing his other arm against the wound. He could feel how his body was sucking at the arm to keep it in place and the healing process had already begun. He flipped the lid off the small jar with his thumb and nodded towards Jane, who caused enough pain for Bella to be still affected and unable to turn, and backing her into the nearest corner.

Aro could see why she liked the boy so much, he was a puppy, and not even remotely concerned about the pain his girlfriend was in. He could easily be disposed of. Oh, and he'd have Bella watch. Brilliant! All giddy, he threw the contents of the jar at Bella, the ash forming a nice little circle around her. An inescapable prison of Mountain Ash. They were going to get a human later to break the circle when they were ready to leave, but at least now she didn't have anywhere to go.

Bella felt a relief wash over her when the barrier came down around her, Jane wasn't able to hurt her anymore, which also meant that Alice couldn't see her decisions and both Jasper and Corin couldn't influence her. Physically, she couldn't be hurt either because everyone in the room was supernatural. She was safe. However, it also meant that she was going to have an even harder time trying to fight her way out of this as the Mountain Ash barrier was strong, and she was nowhere capable enough to push through it.

She sat down quietly with a scowl on her face and allowed the slow healing process undo the damage Jane had caused. She couldn't really get angry with Isaac for pulling her off of Corin, but deep down, she was seething with anger. Yes, they were going to get out of this mess and then she'd give him the house and just leave him. End of games. But it wasn't as if he could do anything about it, but still. If Bella was able to push her out of her head, why couldn't he? Maybe because she had the venom in her system. Maybe. Maybe the baby was helping her.

The baby.

She absentmindedly caressed her stomach, a small bump was already noticeable; heck, she had to rip her pants a little to be able to get in a couple of days ago. She couldn't believe that there was an actual baby growing inside of her even if it was a very bad idea. She and Isaac were nowhere near to be in the place to raise a child. They liked to have way too much fun and if Bella thought that buying a house was a very grown up thing to do, raising a child would be even more of a grown up thing to do and she wasn't even 20!

Her mom was going to kill her. Charlie would shoot Isaac in a heartbeat.

She reached out to the edge of the mountain ash and growled when it was really containing her. "What are your plans, Aro?" Bella said as she shifted a little to make her a little bit more comfortable. "You obviously got me and you want me alive otherwise I would have been dead days ago."

The vampire looked at her and shrugged lightly. "Perhaps. Or maybe I want to see you suffer."

"That's bullshit. And you're a moron. You should have taken me back to Volterra when I was still under that bitch' influence. I'm not going anywhere with you now."

"Well well," he said with an amused smile on his face. "I didn't know you were that eager to come home to Volterra with us."

"I'm not. I'd rather die."

"That will be an option, yes," Marcus mused, looking at the trapped little werewolf from his seat. "Please refrain from speaking further, our plane leaves tonight."

"You can't stop me."

"Oh, we can," Caius nodded to Felix, who immediately made his way over to Isaac. Felix grabbed Isaac's arm and smirked at Bella when he broke Isaac's arm in half. The sound of bones breaking made her nauseous, his cries of agony broke her heart and fuelled the rage inside of her.

"Leave him alone!"

"Once more, please, Felix," Caius said in an even tone and watched in fascination as the vampire picked up the werewolf and threw him across the space, having him collide with the wall and temporarily knocking him out. "Well done."

Unable to contain her anger, Bella roared out loud as she got to her feet. Once again, Aro thought he was seeing things when her eyes briefly flashed red. He wasn't too worried. Bella was surrounded by mountain ash and she couldn't transform. He was assured that no supernatural being could escape from it or get to her.

"Felix," Caius coached the vampire, unfazed by Bella's roar. Felix went over to Isaac's limp body and lifted him up, watching the boy's face, almost thinking about what he was going to do next. Shrugging, Felix dropped the boy to the floor and decided to break the arm some more. "Bella, every time you make a noise, we will hurt your boy. It's in his best interest if you'd refrain from speaking."

Bella thought for a moment. Hadn't Argent mentioned something about a wolf needing to shift to get rid of certain external influences? Would it help against Corin's meddling? It would certainly help him to heal faster. Pain helped him shift, she knew that, and she really didn't want him to go through more pain, but he was still slightly dulled by Corin's influence and he'd understand, wouldn't he?

No, he wouldn't. She promised him she wouldn't hurt him and she wasn't going to hurt him through a proxy. However, she wasn't going to allow them to hurt Isaac even further. She needed to get rid of her rage, punch something. She was not going to Volterra and Isaac was not going to get hurt even more. Letting out a low growl, she started to push against the barrier of mountain ash.

The first try had her collide with the wall as it bounced back, causing the vampires look at her in concern. "Bunch of pansies," she muttered under her breath, making eye contact with Jasper and Alice and focused her rage upon them. They were free. Or at least, Jasper was. Bella could tell and once again, he wasn't doing anything to stop others from hurting people. "You call yourself a vampire."

Bella winced when she heard more bones break and Isaac falling to the ground again. "Please, please just stop…" Isaac whimpered. "I'll do better, I promise!"

She ducked when a knife came at her and sneered. She needed to free herself, she needed to get out there and make sure that Felix wouldn't hurt Isaac again. Isaac. Isaac was important. Focussing on him, she started to try and push through the barrier again. Everything could be beat. She beat Corin. She killed Edward. She found friends who helped her with the Cullens. Yes, it sucked that it was currently her against a barrier and Volturi and she probably wasn't going to survive, but she was going to try.

She was so busy concentrating to escape, that she didn't notice that another knife was coming for her until it hit her in her leg, causing her to stumble back in pain. Bella looked at the knife sticking out of her leg almost as if it was a foreign idea for her to get hurt like this, which it basically was. Her shield was around her stomach and that's where it was supposed to be, but this sensation was weird.

Bella pulled out the knife and flung it back, she wasn't sure who threw it at her, but she aimed for Marcus' head and he obviously caught it with a big smile on his face. She could feel how her wound was slowly closing and limped to her spot again. No longer keeping her anger at bay, she was determined to get through this time and nothing, no one, was going to stop her.

Taking a deep breath, she started to push through again, focusing on Isaac. While he was still pretty much out of it, she could see how the pain was bubbling underneath the surface of his skin. He looked like a tortured angel. Hers.

After a few seconds, she saw the vampires scatter and she thought she saw Derek in her peripheral vision but that wasn't possible, there was no way he could know where she was. Even if it was Derek, she needed to get out of the mountain ash. She needed to check up on Isaac and she needed to kill at least one of the Volturi, preferably all of them. Corin was on top of her hit list, but so was Jasper, as well as Alice.

It was definitely Derek, as he joined the dumbfounded faces of the vampires who were watching her in awe as she was pushing through the mountain ash. Letting out a low growl, she could feel how it finally started to give. She felt empowered, strong and certainly capable of doing this. Bella felt confident that she could take apart a vampire, even with the mountain ash in the building. If she could push through the barrier, she was capable of using her full strength on breaking steel bodies.

She landed on all fours when she finally pushed through and the resistance stopped and roared. Not missing a beat, she pushed herself off from the ground and jumped on the nearest vampire - Jasper - and ripped off his head. She used his still standing body as a jumping board and kicked his head against Alice's before launching herself at Corin, giving her the same treatment she had just given Jasper.

Landing on her feet, the Volturi scurried away in a corner, with only their guard shielding them from Bella. She looked at Derek, who looked at her dumbstruck, and Peter's jaw was on the floor. "You're fucking late," she said angrily, causing both men to cast their eyes down before shaking whatever made them do it off and making their way over to the Volturi.

Bella made her way over to Isaac and sat down on her knees as she cupped his face. "Are you okay?"

"Not sure," he said with a groan and rubbed his head. "What happened?"

"We got duped, that's what happened," she softly kissed him and helped him to his feet. "Come on, I left some for you to kill." When she was sure that Isaac was steady on his feet, she looked at Peter and Derek who were both fighting off two vampires. Jane was having a blast with hurting them and this angered Bella. Jane was hers.

She ran over to Jane and knocked her down on the floor, pinning her down as she sat on top of her. Bella's claws were extended as she ripped Jane's pretty face to shreds, enjoying the sound of Jane's cries. She pushed her fingers into Jane's mouth and ripped out her tongue before shoving it up her nose. She then ripped of her arm and beat her with it until she got bored with it. It took her a little bit of effort to separate Jane's head from her body but when she did, she took her arm and pulled down Felix' pants. He was on Derek's back at the moment while Derek was fighting one of the wives.

The wives were now extremely pissed off as they realized they had been under Corin's influence for so long, but still they felt this loyalty towards their mates to help protect them. All those years in the tower without any real exercise didn't do them any favors as Derek easily deflected the wife's attempts of hitting him.

Felix yelped when Bella pulled his pants down, but didn't let go of Derek. She then jammed Jane's arm up his ass and pulled him off Derek, flinging him across the room as he had with Isaac. Isaac was on top of Felix in a second, holding the vampire in a vice like hold with his legs and pulled on his head. It took Isaac a little while, but the satisfying 'pop' sound was music to both their ears.

Bella surprised herself by how strong she felt, how powerful. She knew it was the adrenaline coursing through her veins, fuelled by her anger towards the vampires and right now she was happy about it. It meant that it didn't have to take much to take them down for good. She was just about to reach out and grab Joshua off Peter's back when she heard Scott let out a roar, causing Isaac to drop what he was doing and Peter and Derek looking annoyed at the Alpha.

Agitated, Bella spun around and saw Scott and his pack standing in the door opening. The twins were there, so were Liam, Malia and Kira and they looked at the scene before them in confusion, but ready to strike when needed.

"Oh lookie, it's Scott. Better stop killing evil vampires," Bella remarked sarcastically. "He thinks he can hug them and make it all alright." She found Jasper's head somewhere between Derek and Peter and kicked it towards Scott. "He came to hand me over to the Volturi, what does your morality have to say about that?"

"You didn't have to kill him."

"Oh he's not dead. Not yet. The plan is to toss them all out the window into a pile and set them on fire."

"That's not going to happen. Back down."

"No."

Derek and Peter looked at each other and shrugged as they both looked at Scott at the same time with an amused look on their faces. "She's not yours to command anymore, Scott," Derek said smugly, nodding towards the lines of mountain ash that were looking the same as when Scott pushed through one to get to the Darach, only it was broken outwards.

"What do you mean?"

Derek nodded towards the circle again. "She did that."

"No way," Scott blinked and looked at Bella. "You're not an alpha."

"No, I'm not. I'm strong enough to break out of that because you fuckers didn't show up in time," Bella growled as she kicked Jane's head a bit harder than she had Jasper's and nearly hit Scott in the face. "So either help me kill the remaining Cold Ones or leave me to it because you're not the boss of me."

"I'm your alpha."

Bella snorted. "No, you're not. You're a douchebag who like to ruin other people's fun. They need to die, Scott. They will continue to do what they're doing and they'll kill loads of innocent people. Abuse them. Eat them for lunch. They hurt me and they hurt Isaac. Do you even care about us?"

"It's not like you helped us with the assassins," Aiden rolled his eyes at her.

"Isaac and I have been here for what? Three days? We were here, locked up under mountain ash with psychopathic vampires. Getting our minds fucked with. Did you even realise we were missing? I mean, if I hadn't done anything, we'd be on a plane to Italy by now," she said as she pulled Isaac closer to her. Even the Volturi and the remaining Cold Ones were looking flabbergasted. She then turned to the Volturi wives. "You may leave. I don't care you just attacked my friends, but you were simply protecting your husbands. Leave."

The wives looked at each other before one nodded. "Do your worst. He deserves it." Bella watched them walk out the door and raised an eyebrow at Scott.

When he didn't say anything she rolled her eyes at him. "With friends like you, who needs enemies?" She turned around and grabbed Alice, holding her in a vice like hold and looked at Isaac. "Continue, handsome."

"Stop!" Scott roared, trying to issue an Alpha command and she could see that Isaac was a little bit confused, but he wasn't backing away like he normally would.

"Go on," she smiled at Isaac, ignoring Scott. "You know you want to."

The next growl Scott let out was when he was fully transformed into his werewolf self and his eyes were bright red. It let the whole building shake and it caused all the beta's respond with a whimper and wolfing out. But not Bella. She was sick and tired of Scott trying to be the better man and let go of Alice.

She turned to Scott and roared back in return. She felt how she shifted, the tingling in her body felt different, some how. She let out another growl when she felt she was fully transformed and smirked when she saw Scott and his pack look at her either in awe or extreme discomfort. "What!" she demanded. "Stop telling me what to do, asshole!"

"Oh, yeah, did I mention? She's a True Alpha, just like you, Scott. You're not such a rare snowflake after all," Peter managed to quip once the effect of an Alpha's command wore off on him. Scott's wasn't much of a problem, it had been Bella's that had touched him, which was slightly confusing as he didn't like bowing down to an alpha.

"That's impossible."

"Not really, if you think about it," Peter continued with a shrug. "Apart from who she is as a person and what she's been through, the Shaman who bound her werewolf side must have known something. Known about her potential as a True Alpha and decided to bind the spell to such. It's brilliant, really."

"I'm not an Alpha," Bella said with a growl. "I don't want to be one."

"Well, you are, sweet cheeks," Peter winked at her. "And I'll be happy to be in your pack if you'll have me."

Derek blinked at Peter. "Seriously? No ulterior motives?"

"Nope. She made me feel something, Derek. It was amazing," Peter explained and then saw the confused look on his nephew's face. "When she roared. Fuck, that was amazing. Besides, we're omegas. I'd rather be a beta because Hales are no omegas, we have a reputation to uphold. I'd rather be a beta to someone who doesn't like orders and giving them than have to deal with the walking Clearasil ad."

"Yeah but what about our normal lives? Do we really want to give her that much power over us?"

"Do you really see her interfering with our lives?"

Derek was quiet for a moment and looked at Bella who was basically ignoring the rest of them now as she and Isaac were standing away from the vampires and the wolves, quietly talking to themselves about the baby. Unknowingly, she had already accepted Isaac as part of her pack. "You have a point. Bella?"

Bella looked up, annoyance briefly flashing across her face.

"Can Peter and I join your pack?"

"Whatever."

"Seriously?" Scott blinked at Bella. "You take Isaac away from me and you have the Hales join you? Are you nuts?"

"I didn't ask them," Bella said with a shrug. "But don't worry, Scott. I'm sure your friends will stick by you and they can still be friends with you. I honestly don't care. And I am not going to meddle with your affairs as long as you don't stick your snout in mine." She said a bit more forcefully. "So, if you don't mind, we have some killing to do. You're welcome to join us."

Scott just looked at his friends and saw Ethan and Aiden wavering a little bit. They had been wanting to join a pack, not just Scott's, and with Bella now being an Alpha, she was already strong on her own, but joined by the Hales? It was going to be a pack to be reckoned with.

"And because you're so good at barking orders at your friends, send one of them to fetch some marshmallows for the bonfire we're going to have."

A/N: I think that I'm coming to an end to Missed Connections. /sad face. I'm currently working on the next chapter and I think only a few chapters remain to be written. But did you know that I'm also working on the sequel to Sanctuaire? It's called Pandore and I've already uploaded the first four chapters!

Whilst I'm pimping my own work, here's a fun fact: I also write collaboratively with Meekobb under the name meekobuggy here on FFN. We're currently writing Twilight/Arrow stories where we pair an older Bella with Oliver Queen! Gambling Hearts is the first one and we're currently working on Raising The Stakes, and posting it like mad :-)


	14. Chapter 14

They brought the Volturi's and remaining lackey's remains to the forest and after piling them all up together, set them alight. Exhausted, Bella was wrapped up in a blanket and sitting in Isaac's lap on the ground quietly eating a slice of pizza. Derek and Peter had suggested they'd go home and let them deal with the disposal of the Cold Ones, but Bella refused.

Watching them burn and leave this life forever was something she needed to see; they would never go after her again. She didn't have to be afraid that they were going to take her away again. They tried twice and failed. All the bad ones were gone now. Even with Jasper and Alice saying they'd make sure the Volturi stayed away from her, there had always been this nagging feeling in the back of her mind. She should have listened; if she had listened to herself, she and Isaac wouldn't have been in trouble.

But now that they were gone, it was a relief and watching them burn was her treat.

Bella could hear Argent talk to Scott on the other side of the pyre, about what had happened, what Scott had witnessed and how he had been thrown off. Was he really throwing a fit about Bella being a True Alpha, like himself? It wasn't as if she'd wanted to be one, although the extra strength did help her a lot in Eichen House, she didn't mean to be an Alpha. And now she had Peter and Derek in her pack and Isaac too. Or, she wasn't quite sure where Isaac was. For all she knew he was still in Scott's pack. She didn't care.

Well, she did. Isaac was hers, but it was his choice. She wasn't going to force him to do anything; that wasn't who she was.

"But Scott," she heard Argent say after the young wolf's rambling had finally ended. "Beacon Hills has been known to have various packs in the past, and that went swimmingly most of the time."

"Yeah but how is this possible, though? She's killed before she became one."

"I don't know, Scott," Argent sighed. Bella could hear him throw something on the fire, causing a spark. "True Alphas are exceedingly rare. All we know about them is what has been written in the books, such as one appearing every 100 years. Such as the previous True Alphas, like yourself had never killed - either an innocent or a monster. But, if you have been paying attention to the girl as I have, you'd have noticed that she's not like any ordinary werewolf. Or girls, for that matter. Do you need reminding on how she entered our lives?"

"No…"

"This is a great chance for us to rewrite bestiaries, learn a great deal more about what's possible and…"

"A better way to kill us?"

"No, Scott," Argent sighed tiredly. "To broad our horizons. To allow Emissaries like Deaton help you guys better in the future."

"But what will the impact be on me now that there's another True Alpha in Beacon Hills?"

"It's likely that more supernaturals or even hunters will try to kill you."

"Wouldn't it better then if she'd leave again? Just as fast as she entered our lives?"

Isaac let out a low growl and protectively put his arms around Bella. "He's such a whiny asshole," he muttered in Bella's ear. "You're not going anywhere."

She didn't want to move; her whole body still ached from the experience. It still felt out of place. She felt off balance, mostly because the baby had claimed the shield for itself. Now that she allowed herself to be aware of the changes in her body, it was almost as if it all came down on her at once. But she needed to put Scott in his place.

Sighing, Bella slowly got to her feet and walked around the fire, allowing the heat warm her body. It was funny how the Cold Ones were providing heat at the moment, the irony in that thought didn't escape her. Scott's whole pack was sitting on his side. In all honesty, there was Scott's side of the fire, and Bella's side and that was just ridiculous. Isaac needed his friends.

"Nothing's changed, Scott. And if you need my help for whatever reason, I will help you. I just hope that you'll return the favor. What happened in the past few days, even with everything getting thrown in your face, you should have realized that Isaac and I were missing. Your betas. Your pack members, but you didn't even care. You cared more about saving your own skin and of your closest friends. I shouldn't blame you, really. Isaac's been away for a couple of months, and I'm the new guy, but you should have noticed. That's being responsible for your own pack, especially facing the danger of assassinations."

"Don't you start, Bella," Scott said, glaring at her. "You have no idea what we've been through in the last few days."

"No, and you know why? You didn't inform us. We were uninformed about the dead pool. I should feel lucky that the Volturi swung by because they knew about it, at least all the details."

"We weren't all together, some of us were at the police station, and we were fighting-"

"Derek was with you. He and Peter found us today. You had your friends round up all the supernaturals on the list for protection. Where were Isaac and I? Were you worried at all?"

"I didn't think-"

"No, you didn't. I had to overhear a conversation between Stiles and Argent to learn about the dead pool. The day after, I heard something about it from Peter. You should have told me about the dead pool, Scott because the Volturi told me and said Isaac and I were on the list as well! You're a crappy Alpha, Scott. You're supposed to care about your pack!" She said, taking a deep breath trying to remain her cool. "Everyone should have the same information, especially if they're just as affected by the situation as everyone else. Especially considering I don't have just my life to worry about anymore!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, here she goes," Peter said, sucking in a breath.

"What?" Derek asked curiously, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves.

"You'll see."

"What I mean, Scott, is that I'm pregnant. I'm going to have a baby in about… four months. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I'll have to check again with Deaton, but something is growing inside of me." Bella could hear how everyone fell quiet at that, the only thing she could hear was the crackling of Cold Ones and some owls hooting in the distance.

Sighing and tiredly rubbing her eyes, she continued. "Here's the thing; don't worry that I'll steal your pack away from you because I don't want to do that. I know a lot of responsibility comes with having your own pack, a lot of power, but I'm not interested in that. Even before all this, I was planning on happily living my life in Beacon Hills, with Isaac, in our new house and staying the hell away from you. I don't care what Isaac does, hang out with you or whatever, because you're his friend. Now that I'm like you, I plan on doing the same thing as I did before. Nothing's changed."

When Scott kept looking at her as if she was wearing a polka dot bikini, she rolled her eyes at him and looked at Argent, who looked just as dumbstruck as Scott. "It's very indecent of us, for me to get knocked up like this, but what can I say? Can Isaac and I still crash at your place? Or would you rather for us to find a hotel at this hour?"

"You can stay at the loft," Derek spoke up as he, Peter and Isaac had joined them. "At least until you get your house sorted."

"How are you supposed to swing that?" Peter scoffed, looking at his nephew, shaking his head. "Offer your own bed?"

"Why not? I'll just crash with you," he smiled cheekily.

"Oh dear God," Peter muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've dealt with pregnant werewolves before; I suppose it's safer if she's with us than with Argent…"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Mood swings. Loads of them. Your mom nearly tore my head off once."

"Alright, let's go," Bella smiled at Peter and Derek before looping her arm through Isaac's. "Isaac and I have a lot of sleeping to do."

Derek raised an eyebrow as he followed. "As long as that's all you're doing in my bed."

"The woods are a fantastic place to have sex in," Isaac replied happily. "We've been sneaking off from Argent's place to do it."

"Don't worry, Derek. We'll be sleeping for days," Bella assured him. "Or at least, I will."

~o.O.o~

While Isaac had been sound asleep; he didn't get as much as 'downtime' as Bella had received over the last few days, she found herself unable to drift off in hopefully peaceful oblivion. She kept thinking about if she wouldn't have gone with Aro; she knew it'd been bad news when they showed up in her house. If she hadn't gone with Aro, she most certainly would have lost Isaac. That was why.

A lot of the events over the last few days were fuzzy, and that frustrated her to no end. They'd been gone for almost five days, and she could only remember the last day and a half, somewhat. Because she'd become aware.

"I need air, Bella," Isaac muttered in his sleep as he tried to pry open her vice-like hold on him.

"Sorry," she whispered, letting go of him and propped herself up on her elbow as she gently brushed her fingers through his hair. "Go back to sleep," she murmured. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she'd lost him. Probably go on a rampage and then some. When she was sure he was back in dreamland, she quietly left the bed, slipped on the robe that Peter had provided her and went downstairs where she heard him and Derek quietly talk.

"Can't sleep?" Derek asked, and Bella shook her head. "The kitchen is over there if you want to make yourself something."

"Thanks," she said as she sat down on the steps of the stairs. She was quiet for a moment before speaking up again. "Sorry to have interrupted you guys."

"Oh, don't be. We were just discussing things. How you handled Scott, for one," Peter replied. "Magnificently, if I may add. It's about time the runt gets put in his place."

"Yeah, I don't really understand the relationship you have with Scott," she said with a small smile on her face. "Are you jealous of him?"

"No," Peter scoffed.

"Peter's been a pain in the ass for years," Derek explained and then continued telling Peter's story. How he always assumed he was the Alpha and not any of the women in their family. How he killed Derek's sister to become an Alpha and bit Scott. How he caused mayhem for a long time, even returning from the dead. By the time Derek was done with the story, Bella's head was swimming with the information.

"So basically you're a manipulative, power hungry, asshole?" She looked at him, and Peter merely shrugged. "I suppose I should take it as a compliment that you once again, are a beta under a female Alpha but do I have to be afraid that you'll hurt Isaac or me?"

"No, I think I can reach my goals one way or the other," Peter smirked and cocked his head as he looked at her. "Can I threaten other people that I have a badass Alpha if they hurt me?"

"Wuss," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm okay with whatever, as long as we don't get hurt by your actions." She then realized something and visibly shuddered. "Ew. I don't like this feeling. Can't I de-alpha myself?"

Derek smiled at that. "Sure, but look at it this way; you're in a better position to protect yourself, Isaac and the bun in your oven. Word will spread that you're not like any other True Alpha and hell, the Hales joined your pack!"

"Somehow I find that not reassuring."

"I'll make sure he behaves."

"Nope, not working either," She said with a shrug, pulling the robe closer to her. "I'll swing by the house tomorrow to see how far they are and then I'm going by Argent's to-"

"The only thing you're going to do is rest, and maybe we'll go to Deaton so he can check you over. But other than that? You're not going to do anything," Isaac's voice sounded from behind her, causing Derek and Peter to grin widely. "Come back to bed, Bella."

"But…"

"No," Isaac groaned as he walked down the stairs and scooped her up before taking her back to bed. "I'll give you a massage or something, but you need sleep just as bad as I do. Leave your new subjects alone."

~o.O.o~

A week later, after 'her men' didn't allow her to leave the loft for whatever reason, Bella was finally allowed to go outside. She was well rested, as was Isaac, and apart from their memories, everything looked as if nothing had happened. She had grown frustrated and wanted to check up on the house. She didn't want to inconvenience Derek and Peter any longer because she could tell that they were getting frustrated as well.

"I can't believe they're done," Bella said in awe as they were standing in the house. Everything was fixed to what she and Isaac had decided, and the walls were painted, the floors were laid and windows replaced.

"It's amazing," Isaac smiled widely as he walked into the kitchen. "Bella, you have to see this, your kitchen is perfect!"

She followed him in and was astounded. Even the kitchen she had wanted was in there. It was bigger, spacier, than the original kitchen and it had all the latest technology in there, but the thing that she loved the most was the professional six pit stove with a huge oven underneath it. "Oh, this is… wow…" she said breathlessly. "I mean, I knew it would look great but…"

"It's always best to see it in person, isn't it?"

She nodded as she grabbed Isaac's hand and headed upstairs. "What will be our bedroom and what shall we turn into a nursery?"

"You want to discuss that now?" he laughed as he followed her.

"Yes," Bella said with a nod. "I hate what the Volturi did to us, but I am grateful that they made me aware that I do want this. That this baby is happening and that you and I are going to be awesome parents. I want our home to be more than ready for him or her when it arrives."

"Are you sure? I have some money put aside because I was already planning on making a nursery for the baby in the hope you'd change your mind, but it's not much…"

Bella smiled as she turned and put her arms around his neck, pulling him down towards her. "I'll pay everything that's needed for this house. Our furniture and what not. I understand you want to pull your own weight, so how about I leave the nursery in your hands? If you need money, all you have to do is ask." She was well aware that Isaac wanted to be the one taking care of them, and she was going to allow him to when they got settled as he made enough to support them. She was also aware that he needed that. "And once we're settled, I won't touch the money again, apart from setting up a tiny allowance for me every month and it won't be more than you receive from your hard work."

He nodded as he softly kissed her. "I'd like that."

"Good," she smiled at him. "So do I."

They had so much fun trying to figure out every room and what they wanted to do with that that they lost track of time, and it wasn't until it became dark that they both had gotten hungry and decided to get something to eat before returning to the Loft to continue talking about the house. Maybe even buy things on the internet so they wouldn't have to go out to the shops.

~o.O.o~

Another week later, their house had the necessities, to Bella it was most important that they had a bed and something to sit on, she was itching on leaving Peter and Derek to themselves. Fortunately, she didn't have any run-ins with Scott. Isaac had them, maybe, she wasn't aware, but she didn't mind if he did.

Before they'd move into their house, Isaac wanted her to stop by Dr. Deaton to make sure she was progressing alright with her pregnancy, and they discovered that not only was she pregnant, she was carrying two babies, which surprised them both, seeing as they didn't have twins in their family. It was going to be yet another adjustment they had to deal with. Twins. Not just one baby but two.

Both were still in shock as they walked towards their house, quiet and deep in their own thoughts, but Bella stopped as soon as she unlocked the door. "We're not doing this right," she said as she pulled Isaac back after he had stepped over the threshold and quickly looked around to see if there were people in the street watching them.

"What are you doing?"

"We're not doing this right," she said again, a mischievous smile appearing on her face before lifting Isaac up. No doubt it looked weird, he was near twice her size and safely in her arms as she maneuvered him through the door and across the threshold.

"Oh gee, as if I didn't feel emasculated enough with you having money and me having to work for it."

Bella grinned as she kicked the door shut and continued to carry him up the stairs.

"Should you even be lifting in your state?"

"I'm pregnant, not broken." She plonked him on their new bed and pounced on him before eagerly kissing him. "Welcome, home, Isaac."


	15. Chapter 15

She never really taken a liking to Halloween, she had always thought it was ridiculous to dress up and go for candy - even though her mother always took her out to do it all - but this year was special. Bella and Isaac were determined to scare the hell out of the children in their neighborhood and did everything they could to make their porch as scary as they could. They had been putting it off for days, and of course, in true fashion, they decorated on the day itself. It's how they rolled, and it worked.

Isaac had taken some old, rejected, gravestones from work and planted them in their front lawn; there was a skeleton in a rocking chair, and Bella was now putting up fake cobwebs. Sure, it didn't look as scary as the other houses, but that was because the main attraction would be shown the moment they opened the door for children begging for candy.

"What are you doing?" Isaac sounded panicked as he opened the door and saw Bella balancing on a stepping stool to hang up one of the cobwebs, stretching herself to the limit and wobbling a bit. "Get off that stool right now!"

"Why?"

"Because you're pregnant! What if you fall?"

She let out a low growl and hopped off the stool to face Isaac after she secured the cobweb. "We've been over this, Isaac."

"I know, you're not fragile," he sighed relieved when she was firmly on the ground with both feet. "And sure, with your heightened senses and abilities you'd be okay but I can't help but worrying. Could you at least try to act as if you're pregnant with twins?"

"Cute," she reached up to ruffle his hair and handed him the remaining decorations. "Alright, tall guy, do your worst. I'm going for a nap."

"But!"

"What? You said I'm pregnant and should at least try to act as I am, so. Nap time," she smirked as she moved past him and slapped his ass. "If you hurry, I might not have fallen asleep, and we could have some us time before those children start banging on the door."

~o.O.o~

Bella was giddy when the doorbell rang and raced Isaac to the bowl of goodies. "Mine!" She grinned before letting out a deafening roar and changed her face. She could already hear the children outside that door scream. Pulling the door open, the children screamed louder, and Bella couldn't help but laugh as she held out the bowl of goodies.

She looked over the children to see Peter and Derek across the street; Peter was munching on his own candies as he watched the house with an amused look on his face. Bella grinned and looked back at the kids. "What do you think? Too much?"

"No ma'am!" a young boy dressed as the Green Arrow grinned. "That is awesome! Great sound effects too!"

"Well thank you," she smiled and put some more candy in his basket for his good manners. "Have a great evening and watch out for other monsters, they might not be as nice as I am."

"I will! Thank you!"

She watched the children run away again and leaned against the doorpost as she looked at the Hales. "We have snacks inside; we could have them on the porch and have us all look like this."

"You're mental," Peter laughed as he started towards the house. "I like it."

"Are you insane?" Derek huffed but followed his uncle anyway.

"What? The one night of the year where we can show our true selves to the average people, and you want to skip that? Hell no. Don't make me make you enjoy yourself," Bella demanded.

"She does have the power to do that, nephew," Peter smirked as he stepped inside the house. "Evening, Isaac!"

"Oh, no. You're not going all wolf on the porch; you're the ugliest ever," Isaac said as he saw Peter walk in, followed by Derek and Bella.

Bella shrugged as she started to grab their finger food and brought it to the porch, not losing her game face in the process. "Bring some chairs!"

Isaac was thoroughly enjoying himself. While he had never cared much for Peter, he had started to like him somewhat, mostly because out of the four of them, Derek was the most normal. Under Bella's influence, Peter had mellowed somewhat, even though Isaac was sure that he was making shady deals and weaseling his way into things. He had heard some of Scott's stories about his occasional encounters with the opportunistic Peter.

However, nothing Peter did was in the name of Bella, and as long as that continued, that was more than alright. Peter liked to have fun, and that mellow side of him was alright.

After a couple of hours scaring the children and giving them way too much candy, a familiar scent wafted towards them, and it had them all get to their feet to lean over the balustrade.

"What are you doing?" Argent's voice sounded. "Have you lost your collective minds?"

"We're a pack of werewolves for Halloween, isn't it awesome?" Bella said with a broad grin on her wolfish face. "The children seem to love it and come back for more!"

He just looked at the four werewolves in shock.

"Close that mouth or you'll eat flies sooner or later, Mr. Argent." Isaac grinned as he put an arm around Bella.

"We have some food left, if you like, you could go home and fetch your gun and pretend to be a hunter while you join us. It'll be fun!" Bella said inviting, causing her men to snort.

"You've lost your mind; it's official," Argent stated as he shook his head and turned around.

"Aw, don't walk away, Argent," Peter said with a snort. "We have beer!"

His head snapped to Peter before looking at Bella.

"Relax, I'm drinking orange juice," Bella rolled her eyes as she sat back down. "Now, either join us or leave, you're bad for business, the kids think you're scary."

"The kids think-" he didn't finish his sentence and decided to walk away. "Crazy werewolves," he muttered under his breath, loud enough for them to hear.

~o.O.o~

Bella had never really shown any interest in it whatsoever, but now she had a good reason to now; it was her house and to be the only house not decorated on the block would make them stand out.

Isaac was at work, and he'd pick up a tree after he was done. He insisted, because even though Bella was strong enough to pull a tree home by herself, it wasn't natural. She decorated the house with red and green fairy lights, their stockings above the fireplace, and she even added socks for Derek and Peter, simply because they were part of their family now.

She had promised Isaac not to climb on stairs or stools to hang things, so everything she decorated was at eye height, which made the living room - and the porch - look ridiculously cute. They were going to celebrate Christmas with the mice living in their walls. It wasn't that she didn't want to do a proper job, it's that it was best that she didn't. She was huge, and she still had some time to go, but she was big.

While her werewolf side took care most of the nagging inconveniences of being pregnant, she still felt as if she was a cement truck, and her stomach got in the way with most things. At least she and Isaac could be creative in bed, and that's what she looked forward to most of the time.

While she thought of their bed, she couldn't help but want a nap and unceremoniously found a sweet spot on the couch and dozed off like a sleepy cat. She could nap when she wanted to, it was awesome.

Her nap got disturbed by an insistent ringing of the doorbell. She had tried to ignore it, at first, but whoever it was, didn't stop until she was opening the door. Bella was going to attempt to fight the urge to rip off that person's head. She didn't bother fixing her hair as she stumbled to the door and opened it. "Yes?"

"Miss Swan?"

"Yes," she grumbled as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Charlie Swan sent you a package, if you'd sign here, I'll get it out of my truck," the delivery man said as he handed Bella a clipboard to sign while he went back to the van.

Dazed, Bella signed the form and watched as the man pulled out a big box, even had to ride it to her doorstep on some sort of cart and blinked at it. "What is that?"

"I don't know, ma'am, just delivering packages," he smiled at her. "Now, please move aside so I can take this in for you."

"No," she said as she stopped the box from moving even further. She didn't want anyone in her house other than someone she knew. Besides, she could pull it in herself, it didn't look that heavy. "My boyfriend will come home from work soon."

"You can't just leave it on the porch like this."

"I can. And I will." She handed him his clipboard back. "Thank you, have a nice day."

"But-"

"You did your job; you delivered a package. What happens to it now is my problem," she said as she stepped around the box and crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at the man. "Have a good day, sir."

After watching him scurry off, she let out an excited squeal and casually pushed the box inside by backing up against it and pushing with her ass. Once she was able to close the door, she leaped over the box and started pulling it into the living room before then laying flat down on her back on the floor, nauseous.

This sucked.

Before Bella knew it, she was crying. She didn't like being pregnant anymore. Her belly was huge and whenever she moved; the babies seemed to wobble in her stomach, and it made her feel sick. This really sucked. She wanted Isaac, or her father, to tell her that everything was going to be okay.

She fumbled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Isaac's number. When he picked up, all she could do was cry.

"Bella? Is something wrong?" Isaac sounded worried, panicked, even. She could hear a machine being turned off and him walking to somewhere else as she sobbed. "Are you hurt?"

"No!"

"Is something wrong with the babies?"

"No!"

"Are you fed up again?" When Bella started to cry louder, Isaac sighed. "You can't just call me whenever you're fed up, what can I do about it? I'm at work, Bella." When she didn't stop, he started to laugh. "Fine, I'll be home in 5 minutes."

Of course, by the time Isaac arrived home, she had stopped crying but she was still on the floor, not wanting to move. "What's with the box?" Isaac said as he laid down next to her on the floor and looked at her.

"Charlie sent it."

"Why didn't you open it?"

She merely rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh, of course," he said eventually, a wide grin appearing on his face. "You just want me to get fired from my job, don't you?"

She smacked him on his chest and groaned. "Please open the box."

"Did you get this box inside all by yourself?" He caressed a strand of hair out of her face and smiled at her. She looked tired. Maybe he should ship her off to bed instead.

"Of course I did."

"You really need to stop doing that."

"I'm all right."

"Then open the box yourself."

Bella growled lowly as she looked at him.

Isaac laughed as he got up from the floor again. "Fine, fine, but after we see what's inside, you're going to bed."

She huffed as she watched Isaac open the box, revealing two maxi cosis and a frame to put it on. "Huh. Didn't we tell him that we already got most of it sorted?"

"Yes, but this isn't a baby carriage," Isaac smirked as he started to set it up. "Look, they're baby swings! You can put them in there and gently rock them to sleep that way."

"Awesome," Bella sat up and leaned back on her arms as she looked at him. "I'll have to call Charlie later to thank him. How about you rock me?" She smirked at him. "Long and hard?"

~o.O.o~

Bella wasn't sure if it was a good thing that her mother was staying over now that Bella was nearly due. While she hadn't mind telling Charlie about the side of her that she had discovered mainly due to his involvement with the Quileute shifters, she hadn't told Renée as she'd completely flip her lid and maybe even hurt Charlie for having allowed Bella to be that adventurous when she was younger.

But maybe, it was a good thing to tell her. Who knew what was going to happen if Bella would go into labor? Then again, she didn't want her mom to be there. Despite not being midwives or gynecologists, Bella had requested that Scott's mother and Dr. Deaton would be present. A nurse and a vet. Perfect combination. Isaac was going to be with her, of course, and Argent would be right outside the door incase something wolfy might happen.

She was due somewhere this week in February and her house never felt more full with Renée and Charlie staying with them, and Bella was being watched like a hawk by both parents while Isaac escaped by going to work. She hated him for that. She felt like a broken record when explaining to her mother that twins usually came early and yes, that she was aware of the fact that she hadn't been pregnant for nine months and that, no, she didn't cheat on Edward and that Isaac wasn't the reason she ran away from her wedding.

She had already told her this over the phone - many times.

Locking herself in her bedroom no longer worked and she shot off a text to Peter to see if he was willing to take her parents out for an exploration of Beacon Hills because they didn't leave on their own despite Bella almost begging them to. ' _Are you insane? I am NOT going to babysit YOUR parents.'_

' _Technically you are the responsible adult. Well… more adulty than Isaac and me.'_

' _Are you saying I'm old?!'_

' _No.'_

' _Fine, but I'll be telling your mom what you are.'_

' _Do that and I'll tear off your head.'_ Bella sighed as she rolled to her other side. ' _Please, before I bite them.'_

' _Fine.'_

' _Take them into town or something.'_

' _Kiss their asses?'_

Bella grumbled as she put her phone away when she heard the doorbell. She was slightly amused by how close he had been. For someone who was described as an opportunistic asshole, he didn't seem to mind helping her out. Sure, she'd rather have her parents been taken out by a normal human, but she didn't want to bother Argent and Stilinski was at work. Just like Isaac. Stupid Isaac.

Everything was stupid. Everything and everyone.

Sighing, she covered herself with her blankets and tried to get some sleep. Eventually, she became fed up with attempting to find a comfortable position to sleep in and decided to take a bath. She liked it that the house was quiet, but she really wished Isaac was home. But if she'd call him again, it was likely that he'd say that he couldn't leave his work - again. It made her feel needy, and she didn't like feeling needy.

When the bath turned cold, she got out of it and blinked when the water stained a little bit red. "Oh fuck," she muttered as she quickly dried herself off and got into one of Isaac's shirts and wrapped a clean towel around her waist before grinning to herself. Today was going to be the last day she had to deal with her huge stomach! She felt better already.

She found her phone and shot off a message to Isaac, Melissa, and Dr. Deaton that her water broke and then went downstairs to make a pot of tea. She wasn't worried, she was relieved. Frankly, quite surprised too, because she had heard stories and read in books that delivering babies could hurt a lot but she didn't feel anything. Which was one of the dangers Dr. Deaton had warned Melissa about.

Bella couldn't wait. And then it really dawned on her; she and Isaac were going to have to take care of two tiny human beings in a couple of hours. They were going to be responsible for them and make sure that all their needs were met and grow up to be beautiful people. Responsible, the word alone made her snort. They were going to have fun, show them that the world was a fun place and that there weren't any limitations for them. Yes. Definitely.

Isaac was the first one to arrive. "You should be off your feet!"

"Hi!" Bella grinned as she kissed him before pouring him a mug of tea. "How was work?"

"Bella!"

"My water broke, Isaac. That's it. It's not like a baby will drop out of me anytime soon."

"Yeah, sure, you're going to sit down, and you're not going to move unless Mrs. McCall or Dr. Deaton tells you to," he said as he gently steered her towards the couch. "No more walking around for you."

"Fine."

"Where are your parents?"

"Peter came to pick them up after I told him to. They were getting on my nerves," Bella took a sip of her tea and relaxed into the comfortable couch. "I haven't slept, but I had a nice, relaxing bath, though."

"Have you called them back yet?" He sat down next to her and, after kicking off his shoes, he put his feet up on the table. "I understand you don't want them around," he said as he put his arm around her. "But they are your parents. That's the whole reason you invited them. They're going to be grandparents."

She huffed as she set down her mug of tea and decided leaned against Isaac before deciding that he indeed was more comfortable than the couch and sighed happily after nestling against him. "You do it then," she said with a yawn and closed her eyes. Yes, having Isaac home was so much better.

She must have dozed off, then, because when she woke up, she was in bed, and Isaac was sitting on the bed next to her. A frustrated Melissa was pacing up and down the bedroom, and Bella didn't understand why. "Relax," she muttered as she slowly sat up.

"Relax," she huffed. "Relax? You're in labor, Bella, and you've basically been sleeping through it! How can I relax? Someone has to worry!"

"You could have woken me up," she said with a small growl.

"We tried, babe," Isaac said soothingly. "But you were just too tired."

"Do you honestly not feel the contractions?"

Bella shrugged. "It's a nagging feeling that I've had for days but other than that; it doesn't really hurt that much."

"Forgive me, Bella, but this is the first time I experience a werewolf getting pregnant, you honestly didn't think it was worth mentioning?"

"What?" she replied with a groan. "Every single nagging feeling over the past few months was due to either my body expanding due to growing children inside of me or an inconvenience because there was a big belly in the way of me doing things. Would you have liked me to tell all of that? Even in the middle of the night?"

"Don't fight," Deaton said as he entered the room. "That's not right for the situation at hand," he handed Bella a mug of tea with herbs he had brought with them. "Drink this, it'll help you with your delivery and slightly diminish the effects of your werewolf nature so you can give us a better read on your pain and progress."

"I don't want it."

"I can assure you that when Talia was in labor of Derek and any of her children, I gave her this as well. You would not wish to endanger your children, would you?"

Bella grumbled as she took the tea and started to drink it.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" Deaton asked worriedly.

"I just drank your damn tea; I don't feel any different," she said with a small growl, fighting the urge to throw the mug across the room. "Can we just get it over with? Like… starting to push and get them out?"

"Speaking of which, let me check you out," Melissa said as she pushed Deaton aside. "You were sleeping, and I didn't want to see if you were already dilated, it felt a little like a violation."

Bella huffed as she followed her instructions. "You're a nurse; you're supposed to be used to violating your patients."

"Yes, but none of them are a heavily pregnant alpha werewolf who can rip off my head with her pinkie," Melissa countered as she felt between Bella's legs and then blinked before removing the towel. "Okay, well. That's… new. You need to start pushing, Bella, like… now. I can already see the head of the first one."

Isaac immediately let go of Bella as if she was on fire. "What? No, what?" he said panicked as he got off the bed and stared at his girlfriend in shock. He wasn't quite sure what to do now.

"Oh, please stop the puppy act and come back," Bella said as she reached out for him, missing his weight on the bed. "You look adorable, everything will be fine."

"Bella, I…" he reluctantly took her hand and allowed himself to be pulled back on the bed. She moved, so she was sitting against him, between his legs so that he couldn't go anywhere again, and she had him close.

"You're fine," she said soothingly and caressed his leg. "Everything's going to be alright."

"But you're… going to push out our babies and…"

"Women have been giving birth for centuries. I'll be okay," she leaned against him and could feel a sharp pain, almost as if she was being stabbed with a knife. "Oh, that hurt," she whined.

"Good, now push," Melissa said sternly.

The first baby was out before Bella knew it, as it turned out, most of her work had already been done during the day, and she felt a little bit guilty that the little guy had been stuck for a couple of hours. Nothing was wrong with him, which was a relief. He even had a crazy set of lungs which surprised Bella. "He's perfect," Bella smiled widely as Deaton showed Jack to her and Isaac. "We made that, Isaac," she said as she looked up to him, seeing Isaac look at the boy with a stunned look on his face.

They weren't able to enjoy Jack's arrival for very long as she felt the need to push again, their second baby wanted to come out, and she couldn't wait. Yes, she was exhausted already, but she could do this. She didn't want Jack's sibling to wait as long as he had had.

John popped out an hour later, and Bella was glad that he finally wanted to show his face because she'd been just about ready to give up. She whined when Isaac moved away from her, propping her up against the headboard and making his way over to their sons. She wished the tea that Deaton had given her would stop working because she hated feeling like this. So human, much like a wrung out wet towel.

"Stay with me, momma," Melissa said as she gently poked Bella's arm. "We still have to take care of the after-birth."

"Yeah yeah," she said with a yawn.

"That requires more pushing, Bella."

"Yeah…" she sat up with a sigh and started to push again. Much to everyone's surprise, another baby head appeared instead of the placenta. "It doesn't feel like mush…"

"Because it's not, you're having another one," Melissa laughed. "Keep pushing."

~o.O.o~

 _Ten years later…_

"Mom! Can we go as werewolves for Halloween? You won't have to make us costumes!" John grinned as he bounced around his mother in the supermarket. Out of their three children, John looked most like a mixture between Bella and Isaac. He had her features and Isaac's beautiful blue eyes, and he was most definitely a lady killer. Jack had inherited Bella's brown eyes and Tayla, their sister, had inherited everything from Isaac's side, apart from her beautiful brown hair. That was all Bella's.

"No."

"But mom! Uncle Peter said that you did it once and on top of that, you do it every year. Come on, please?" Jack leaned on the cart and looked at his mother. "We'll be extra good!"

"What's wrong with dressing up like a spooky ghost?"

"I want to dress up as a werewolf princess," Tayla's voice sounded as she threw some sweets in the cart. "Please, mommy?"

"Oh, alright," Bella laughed as she grabbed some crackers and headed to the next aisle to get some pickles. "What do you want to eat tonight? What shall we make to surprise daddy when he comes home from work?"

"Cake!" The triplets chorused.

"I suppose we could do cake for dessert. What else?"

"Cake!"

"Real food, people."

"Why? Can't we have a cake day? Dad will love it! You can invite Uncle Derek and Uncle Peter too! Because you need to tell them your secret anyway," Tayla grinned as she had run to another aisle to get the Nutella.

Bella stared at her daughter for a moment. She was certain she'd been careful around the kids, seeing as she homeschooled them, and they liked to get into trouble and look for things around the house. "I don't have a secret."

"Yeah, you do, mom," Jack said as he hopped off the cart and walked to his mother. He placed a hand on her stomach and smirked. "We all know you're going to give us another brother or sister!"

*the End*


End file.
